From the Wall Street Journal:
Earthquakes: Reckoning With ‘The Big One’ in California—and It Just Got Bigger
For years, scientists believed the mighty San Andreas—the 800-mile-long fault running the length of California where the Pacific and North American plates meet—could only rupture in isolated sections.
But a 2014 study by federal, state and academic researchers showed that much of the fault could unzip all at once, unleashing a rare, singular catastrophe. Now, a firm has used that research to come up with a new analysis of the damage that could be caused by statewide break of the San Andreas.
The analysis, by CoreLogic Inc., a real-estate analytics firm in Irvine, Calif., lays out an alarming scenario of destruction.
The threat is rare but within the relm of possibility:
The damage to homes alone could total $289 billion, compared with a previous range of $137 billion on the southern portion of the fault and $161 billion in the north, according to the CoreLogic analysis.
Researchers say a statewide quake above 8.0 would likely hit the Golden State once at least every 2,500 years. “We are talking about very rare earthquakes here,” said Maiclaire Bolton, a seismologist and senior product manager for CoreLogic.
Well, they have been talking about suceeding from the Union. This would help things along.
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