San Francisco earthquake heightens fears over ‘the big one’ that could WIPE OUT California

A ‘SHORT and sharp’ tremor today sparked growing fears over a major earthquake – dubbed ‘the big one’ – that could wipe out southern California.

The magnitude 4.0 quake happened just before 7am Pacific Time (2.49pm BST) in Piedmont, California near the city of San Francisco.

The US Geological Survey said it was at a depth of 3.1 miles and there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

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People across the area reported being woken up by the tremor, with many calling it a standard part of living in San Francisco.

Oregon ‘will be toast’ when next big earthquake hits

Northwest region is 72 years overdue for next big earthquake, experts say

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – One of Oregon’s top earthquake experts predicts the “really big one” will wipe out the entire Northwest. In fact, the area’s FEMA director said everything west of I-5 “will be toast”.

In The New Yorker article “The Really Big One”, Northwest FEMA Director Kenneth Murphy predicts 13,000 people will die in what’s referred to as the “Cascadia Earthquake and Tsunami”. Another 2,500 people are expected to be hurt in the devastating quake.

USGS Scientist: Major Quake On Hayward Fault Expected ‘Any Day Now’

Please see the source for the video.

 

(CBS SF) — The fault that produced a 4.0-magnitude earthquake in Fremont early Tuesday morning is expected to produce a major earthquake “any day now” and Bay Area residents should be prepared, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist said.

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The quake caused some BART delays early Tuesday while work crews checked the tracks, but appears to have caused no major damage. At least 13 smaller quakes or aftershocks had been reported near the same location as of 6:42 a.m., the largest of which was a 2.7-magnitude at 2:56 a.m.

Is the U.S. ready for “the really big one”?

A natural disaster of titanic proportions is overdue to strike the U.S., physicist Michio Kaku warns.

Seismologists predict it will be the worst natural disaster in North American history, and the federal government estimates it could contribute to 13,000 deaths and 27,000 injuries.

“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” the City University of New York physics professor said Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”

A devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami, dubbed “the really big one” in a New Yorker article of the same name, is destined to strike a fault line called the Cascadia subduction zone that runs for 700 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast from Vancouver through parts of California.

The Really Big One

An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when.

When the 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck Tohoku, Japan, Chris Goldfinger was two hundred miles away, in the city of Kashiwa, at an international meeting on seismology. As the shaking started, everyone in the room began to laugh. Earthquakes are common in Japan—that one was the third of the week—and the participants were, after all, at a seismology conference. Then everyone in the room checked the time.

Seismologists know that how long an earthquake lasts is a decent proxy for its magnitude. The 1989 earthquake in Loma Prieta, California, which killed sixty-three people and caused six billion dollars’ worth of damage, lasted about fifteen seconds and had a magnitude of 6.9. A thirty-second earthquake generally has a magnitude in the mid-sevens. A minute-long quake is in the high sevens, a two-minute quake has entered the eights, and a three-minute quake is in the high eights. By four minutes, an earthquake has hit magnitude 9.0.

Monster earthquake could hit Britain as new ‘super deep’ fault lines discovered

 

As well as the capital the regions most at risk are Kent and the Home Counties, Essex, and Scotland, according to reports

Britain could be headed for an earthquake strong enough to topple buildings as new “super deep” fault lines have been discovered under the Home Counties.

Yellowstone Volcano Eruption in 2014? Are Animals Fleeing Park As ‘An Alert’?

A number of bloggers are posting videos that show bison and other animals allegedly leaving Yellowstone National Park, prompting theories that as earthquakes ramp up the seismic activity will set off the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Two of the main bloggers behind the discussion stress that there’s no way to know when the supervolcano will go off but note that the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that hit on March 30 seemed to set off a reaction from the animals, who are moving for a reason.