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.

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.

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.

‘The Big One’ Earthquake Will Hit L.A. Harder Than We Thought, Scientists Say

• Simulation of a magnitude-7 quake on the San Andreas Fault. Seismic waves radiate outward, then deep into L.A.

A  seismology study by scientists from Stanford and MIT, published in the journal Science on Friday, finds that if the Big One hits the San Andreas Fault near Palm Springs, some seismic waves will travel near the path of the 10 Freeway into the heart of Los Angeles, where the city and its suburbs will suffer stronger ground motions than previously believed. Downtown L.A. will endure three times the shaking of surrounding areas, scientists now say.