Big Quake

While it is necessary to repair the bridges and freeways that were damaged by the Bay Area earthquake, it is questionable whether public funds should be spent to remodel undamaged bridges and freeways to make them "earthquake-proof." The chances of any person being injured or killed as the result of the collapse of a bridge or freeway caused by an earthquake is approximately 1 in 24 million. More lives would be saved by spending dollars on assistance to the homeless, the mentally disabled, the physically disabled and the sick.

The 7.2 earthquake that rattled the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 — the largest temblor to hit Southern California in nearly two decades — has exposed a hidden weakness in school seismic safety that officials are now trying to correct. The Easter Sunday temblor was centered south of Mexicali but was felt strongly in several Imperial County communities. Schools withstood the shaking structurally, but the damage was still extensive. Walkway coverings cracked and collapsed; light fixtures crashed to the floor; electrical wires were exposed; water and gas lines ruptured; and classroom ceilings and roofs were damaged.

Mexicans gathered today at churches, memorial parks and plazas to pay tribute to the thousands who died in the great earthquake that shattered parts of the capital one year ago. As a military band played the national anthem, President Miguel de la Madrid lowered the red, white and green Mexican flag to half-staff in the main Zocalo plaza at 7:19 a.m., the time the quake struck on Sept. 19, 1985. A minute of silence followed.

A massive earthquake rippling down the lower half of the San Andreas fault could cripple Southern California's economy and deal a severe shock to millions of workers and hundreds of thousands of businesses, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Modeling the effects of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the likes of which has not been felt in Southern California since the 1850s but which geologists say is overdue, the study divided the region into areas of vulnerability, highlighting zones expected to receive either "very strong" or "destructive" shaking.

Now that the May 10th earthquake didn't happen--and I've collected some bets from people who think that a dead, fake seer (Nostradamus) knows more about 20th-Century seismology than the geologists at Caltech do--why don't we all graduate into the year 1988 and leave Nancy Reagan's astrologers and fortune tellers wondering among themselves why suddenly the human race is starting to get smart? BARRY KRAUSE Santa Monica

State officials Thursday released a doomsday earthquake scenario for San Diego and said the $350,000 document should be used as the basis for emergency response planning. The comprehensive document, five years in the making, outlines the devastating effects a temblor of 6.8 on the Richter scale could have on the city, its structures and its capacity to provide emergency care and services.

In their attitudes about earthquakes, Southern California residents fall into three categories: - The dreamers. "It'll never happen. . . . " - The fatalists. "If it happens, it happens. . . . " - The realists. "Better to be ready than sorry. . . . " We've had warnings with three good tremors in recent months--in Palm Springs, the San Francisco Bay Area and near Eureka--and a steady stream of scientists' predictions. My own attitude is to use a little bit of common sense.

A 4.9 magnitude earthquake centered in San Bernardino County rattled a large section of Southern California on Thursday, the third significant temblor to hit the state in less than a week. While the quake did not cause major injuries or damage, it shook nerves across the region just two days after a 7.2 quake off the Northern California coast prompted a tsunami warning and four days after many residents were jolted awake by a 5.2 quake centered near Anza. Then around 11 p.m.

California may get the publicity, but residents of the East are in just as much danger from earthquakes, according to a report published today. There are many more quakes in California than there are in the Eastern states, but when tremors strike in the Central and Eastern states, they affect much larger areas. "Hence, while California is more hazardous . . . on the basis of frequency of occurrence, both regions have comparable risk," say S. P. Nishenko and G. A.

As many of us watched the coverage of the Sendai earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Friday, we were staggered and horrified by the images of death and destruction. The magnitude 8.9 quake is the largest to hit Japan in more than 150 years and the seventh largest in recorded history. The tsunami produced even greater damage and loss of life. The final figures won't be known for many days, yet it seems clear that hundreds and possibly thousands of people are dead, injured or missing, and the economic toll will be in the millions.

Hannah Trusttun sat on a jagged stack of loose bricks Thursday, staring vacantly across a deserted downtown street in her devastated city. It wasn't supposed to be like this, the mother of two said. The place known as the Garden City, the gorgeous gateway to New Zealand's South Island that draws tens of thousands of tourists each year, had become Earthquake City ? again. Just five months after a temblor shook Christchurch to its core, this city of 350,000 was hit Tuesday by another jolt, this time with far worse effects: 98 people confirmed dead, about 200 missing, 164 others sent to the hospital.

The "Big One" that has been forecast for the San Andreas fault could end up being bigger than earthquake experts previously thought. Recent research showing that a section of the fault is long overdue for a major earthquake has some scientists saying the southern portion of the fault is capable of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake that could run 340 miles from Monterey County to the Salton Sea. That's significantly stronger and longer than the...

Re "High-rises shouldn't give L.A. the shakes," Current, March 25 To encourage the idea of constructing ultra-dense high-rise commercial and residential structures in Los Angeles flies in the face of scientific data and just plain common sense. During the 1994 Northridge quake, well more than 150 steel-frame buildings had unanticipated brittle fractures in welded steel beam-to-column connections. Any effective retrofitting or re-engineering of these connections can only be judged by future quakes.

New research on earthquakes presented this week to mark the 100th anniversary of this city's great quake paints a disquieting picture of California's preparedness for a major temblor. The overarching message of scientists gathered here was twofold. First, future quakes could easily do more damage than past ones because the population of California continues to increase and there are more buildings in areas near fault lines on soft ground susceptible to liquefaction.

A 4.9 magnitude earthquake centered in San Bernardino County rattled a large section of Southern California on Thursday, the third significant temblor to hit the state in less than a week. While the quake did not cause major injuries or damage, it shook nerves across the region just two days after a 7.2 quake off the Northern California coast prompted a tsunami warning and four days after many residents were jolted awake by a 5.2 quake centered near Anza. Then around 11 p.m.

With its offshore faults and low-lying beach areas, Southern California has been hit by tsunamis in the past and will always be at some risk. In a worst-case scenario, experts say, up to 75,000 people could die. Here are the three types of geological events that researchers say could one day send a flood of ocean water our way: 1. Local underwater hazards The Catalina fault is a prime local tsunami hazard. A big quake there could push up the seafloor, displacing water that would swamp the shoreline.

Scientists are discovering more evidence that an ancient rhythm of immense earthquakes could strike northern Utah again. Their findings raise the danger of widespread destruction for the heavily populated 120-mile Wasatch corridor around Salt Lake City. The geologists cannot say with certainty when the next devastating earthquake will hit the Wasatch Front.