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Yah, yah. The big one is coming, it will be bad, you're definitely not prepared, but you absolutely know you should be. Quotes from earthquake experts saying the San Andreas is "locked, loaded, and ready to roll," somehow, aren't persuasive enough for you to put aside a few days worth of food and water in preparation for the inevitable cataclysm that will knock down all the dingbats, and de-commission the sewers for six months.
But maybe, just maybe, the above video will.
Put together by the Southern California Earthquake Center, the above animation demonstrates the shaking produced by a hypothetical (enormous) 8.0 earthquake that ruptures several hundred miles of the San Andreas between Monterey County and South California. If you watch closely, you can see the Los Angeles Basin (and the Valley, and the SGV) are hit particularly hard. This is because L.A. sits upon large deposits of soft soil, as the L.A. Times points out. What made the land great for growing oranges back in the 1930s and 40s also makes it a great echo-chamber for seismic shockwaves. The effect is, essentially, that the land L.A. sits on top of will continue vibrating even after the earthquake's main shockwaves pass.
This second video portrays the ever-famous "Shakeout Scenario," where Southern California is jolted by a 7.8 earthquake originating somewhere near the Salton Sea. Severe shaking in both of these situations would last more than two minutes, especially in the L.A. basin and surrounding flat areas.
It's no secret Southern California is up for an earthquake sometime soon. The first animation depicts an earthquake scenario that has happened multiple times throughout geological history, usually with a frequency of about once every 150 years. The last time the plates in this area produced an earthquake was in 1857, precisely 159 years ago. 😨
The second video shows an earthquake that is "likely to hit Southern California sometime in the next 30 years," according to the United States Geological Survey. It's important to note that the two videos depict rupturing along the same fault line, just with different origins.
Either of these earthquakes would be devastating for Southern California. The shakeout scenario predicts approximately 1,800 deaths, and approximately $300 billion in damages.
So yeah, you should probably get those earthquake kits ready now, especially since you can probably guess what will happen to grocery stores after the big one hits.
[h/t L.A. Times]
