California earthquakes today: Flurry of quakes hit west coast – is the ‘Big One’ coming?
EARTHQUAKES have struck the west coast over the past two days – but are these signs that the “Big One” is coming?
By KAISHA LANGTON
Express.co.uk
Tue, Aug 20, 2019
California has been hit by more than more than 3,000 earthquakes in the past seven days amid rife speculation that the Big One will soon shake the entire community. Los Angeles has a 31 percent chance of seeing a magnitude-7.5 earthquake in the next 30 years according to the US Geological Survey. Californians have been waiting for the quake they call the big one since 1906, when San Francisco experienced an estimated magnitude-7.9 earthquake along the San Andreas fault which killed more than 3,000 people, injured 225,000 and devastating the city. But is the Big One really coming?
According to Earthquake Track, California has experienced 55 earthquakes in the last 24 hours and 440 earthquakes in the past seven days.
While 2,643 earthquakes were record in the past 30 days in California and 17,935 in the past 365.
The largest earthquake recorded today, at the time of writing was a magnitude-3.1 tremblor in Ridgecrest, California, United States.
This was the same location as the magnitude-7.1 earthquake that hit on July 6.
The earthquake lasted only 12 seconds but was felt by about 30 million people, with more than 6,000 people losing power.
California is prone to earthquakes because it resides right on the boundaries of the North American tectonic plate and the Pacific Plate.
The point where the two plates meet and grind against one another is known as the San Andreas fault line.
The fault line is where many predict the Big One will strike.
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