Eh this sucks..

San Andreas 'Fully Loaded' for Major Quake

By Alicia Chang
Associated Press
posted: 21 June 2006
03:44 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (AP)—New earthquake research confirms the southern end of the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles is overdue for a Big One.

The lower section of the fault has not produced a major earthquake in more than three centuries. The new study, which analyzed 20 years of data and is considered one of the most detailed analyses yet, found that stress has been building up since then, and that the fault could rupture at any moment.

"The southern section of the fault is fully loaded for the next big event,'' said geophysicist Yuri Fialko of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Predicting exactly when that might happen, however, is beyond scientists' ability.
The analysis was published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Experts have estimated that a quake on the southern San Andreas of magnitude-7.6 or greater could kill thousands of people in the densely populated greater Los Angeles area and cause tens of billions of dollars in damage.

It was the 800-mile San Andreas fault, which runs down California like a scar, that caused the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that led to about 3,000 deaths.

But scientists know very little about the 100-mile dormant southern segment, which slices through Southern California from San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, to near the Mexican border.

The section last popped in 1690, producing an estimated 7.7-magnitude quake, but caused little injury or damage because hardly anyone lived there at the time.

Using satellite radar and global positioning data, Fialko measured the movement of the southern San Andreas between 1985 and 2005. Small movements along a fault can relieve strain. Calculating those subtle motions allows scientists to figure out how much strain is building up.

Fialko found that the southern end of the fault has shown little movement and that significant strain is building up. The fault's slip rate, or average annual movement, was measured to be about an inch a year—similar to previous estimates.

Surprisingly, Fialko found the two sides of the southern San Andreas behaved differently, with one side showing more flexibility than the other. This could help scientists understand potential earthquake risks, he said.

Ken Hudnut, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist in Pasadena, who had no role in the study, said the latest research reaffirms the need to study the mysterious southern San Andreas more closely.

In the fall, Hudnut will head a $240,000 project that would conduct tests on the southern segment to get a better idea of the threat it poses

Earthquakes are freaky, when I once lived up in Washington state we had a pretty good sized one. Where we lived at the time near Tacoma a smaller town called Lakewood we lived on pure rock so we did not feel it as bad as Settle did had quite a bit of damage. It was my first and last one and forgotten why it went off I know that state is near the ring of fire so it could have been something relating to that.

I just hope whoever lives there they get lucky and not get hurt to bad... I try not to live near fault lines or volcanos...

Even though Washington, I lived in view of Mt, Rainer, but if it blew... I'd could see it but not be effected by it... it was just THAT big.

If I were they I'd try to find a place further from it... but I guess it is not always an option =/

-RMS Carpathia

Im glad all i have to worry about is tornados
I wonder if cali will one day break off and become an island that would be freaky

I believe it will sense it is on the Pacfic plate right? It "belongs" to the Ring of Fire... and that Atlantic if not mistaken is getting bigger... it is so strange and neat to think about! I am terribly fasinated with science

-RMS Carpathia-