California drill preparing 9.9 million for ‘INEVITABLE’ magnitude 7 earthquake TOMORROW
CALIFORNIA will hold large-scale emergency drills preparing more than 9.9 million people for a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake tomorrow.
By Joshua Nevett
DailyStar.co.uk
17th October 2018
Seismologists believe the US state is decades overdue a “Big One” tremor measuring magnitude 7 or greater on the Richter scale.
The San Andreas Fault – a 750-mile fissure that runs the length of California – has been building energy for more than 100 years and is thought to be the biggest risk.
The state has not been struck by a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake since a colossal rupture in the San Andreas Fault laid waste to San Francisco in 1906.
The massive magnitude 7.8 earthquake reduced buildings to rubble in less than a minute, killing around 7,500 people and destroying 80% of the city.
To prepare residents for the worst, millions of people across the state will practice how to “drop, cover, and hold on” on October 18 during earthquake drills held annually.
Californians will learn how to protect themselves during a major earthquake as part of the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills, which marks its 10th anniversary this year.
John Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, said Californians needs to be prepared to avoid injury if a large earthquake were to strike.
He said: “Fundamentally, you need to know what earthquakes are and how to react to them.”
The professor at the University of Washington said seismologists and geologists are concerned a “Big One” could strike in the north or in the south of the San Andreas Fault.
He said the impact of a “Big One” on northern California would be “tremendous”, especially in downtown San Francisco, where many buildings are close to the fault.
He said: “When we look at the history of the fault, we can see these big earthquakes have happened many times over the last few thousand years, so yeah, it’s an inevitability.
“We just don’t know if it’s going to be now or two hundred years from now.”
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