Saturday, August 20, 2016

Massive Earthquake in Los Angeles Due Soon

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

Living in Southern California we have always known that someday the "Big One" is due to hit the Los Angeles area.  There have been movies about it, and with each telling the potential devastation seems to get worse.  We have been reminded of the violent force of earthquakes when one hit the Bay Area during a World Series, collapsing bridges and freeway systems, knocking down buildings, and killing innocent victims, and when earthquakes have hit the SoCal area.  Earthquakes are not discriminatory.  When they are ready to hit, they hit, regardless of who, or what, may be shaken into shambles in the process.

While we know that the "Big One" is due to come soon, we try not to think too seriously about it.  Somehow, we have convinced ourselves that it either won't happen in our lifetime, or we live too far out of the area of ground zero to experience the true wrath of a massive quake.

Technology is getting better, which means our understanding of earthquakes is getting better... and the news is not good.  According to NASA, the chance of a massive earthquake hitting Los Angeles is set at 99.9%, and it is expected to happen with the next two years.

While NASA is virtually certain an earthquake that will flatten the SoCal region is on its way, we still wonder.  Haven't we been hearing this kind of talk since... well, since the day I was born?  Sure, we get some pretty good ones every once in a while, but is a Hollywood style devastation truly on our doorstep?

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena have warned a series of mini-tremors beneath the surface of the City of Angels have caused pressure to build-up.

In 2014, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit the town of La Habra in southern California and the experts from NASA say that there is still some leftover strain from that, which will almost definitely hit before April 2018.

JPL geophysicist Dr Andrea Donnellan said: “When the La Habra earthquake happened, it was relieving some of that stress, and it actually shook some of the upper sediments in the LA basin and moved those a little bit more.

“There’s enough energy stored to produce about a magnitude 6.1 to 6.3 earthquake.”

That's a pretty big quake.  Not above 7 like we saw during the World Series quake, but sixish is a pretty devastating quake.

Okay, so an L.A. quake is almost inevitable after using radar and GPS to track all tremors in Los Angeles.

The probability is we are going to get an earthquake striking within the 60 mile radius of L.A. and it'll be 5.0 or higher.

Well, at least it's not the 8, 9, or worse we've been led to believe by Hollywood.

Or, at least that's what we think.

At 99.9%, that's pretty certain we are going to get rumbled.

Pretty certain.

Time will tell.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/701140/NASA-says-MASSIVE-earthquake-is-99-9-per-cent-likely-to-rock-LA

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