The quakes exposed a “web” of 20 previously undiscovered small earthquake faults that contributed to the Ridgecrest event. “The biggest obstacle can be yourself” when it comes to earthquake preparedness, says Jason Ballmann, communications manager at the Southern California Earthquake Center.Īccording to a study published last October by geophysicists at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the last significant earthquakes in the state were Southern California’s twin Ridgecrest quakes in July 2019. With nearly 40 million residents, California ranks as the most populated state in the country. Pomeroy notes that most Californians live within 30 miles of one of the state’s more than 500 active faults, including those that have been newly unearthed. “Because large earthquakes don’t happen very frequently, many people don’t think about them often or fully comprehend the risks,” says Glenn Pomeroy, CEO of the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), the state’s biggest provider of residential earthquake insurance. Disaster-preparedness experts worry that Californians are underprepared for a colossal quake, particularly when it comes to insurance. But new research suggests it might be sooner than we previously thought. No one can predict with certainty when the next massive earthquake- aka “The Big One”-will rock Southern California. This quake was on a normal fault in the northern Sierra Nevada.ĭid you feel it? Let us know! residents inspect a recent fault rupture following two large earthquakes in the area on July 7, 2019, near Ridgecrest, California. Several M2+ aftershocks have been measured. Updated map for the M5.5 earthquake in Plumas County, near Lake Almanor. “A lot of times we learn about these active faults because of earthquakes,” he said. Green said the 1994 Northridge earthquake also didn’t appear on any mapped faults in the area at the time. “It’s an expected place where there could be earthquakes but in terms of earthquakes within Lake Almanor itself, not a lot has been recorded there,” Greene said. Greene said the area around the epicenter shows nearby faults with similar movements in what’s called a normal fault, which is caused by extension rather than compression. “From what’s publicly available, there’s no active faults thought to be where those earthquakes occurred, but I think this will change that,” Greene said. Between Chester and Greenville, it's in the area hit by the Dixie fire in 2021 /hyx4FkDpjGĬhico State Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences Todd Greene said the location of the earthquake’s epicenter is not located on any known fault lines on publicly available maps. The M5.5 that just happened in Plumas County is the largest in California since the 2019 Ridgecrest M7.1 sequence. The 6.4 quake that caused extensive damage in Humboldt County in December 2022 was centered about a mile off the coast. Seismologist Lucy Jones said on Twitter the earthquake is the largest in California since 2019 when a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Ridgecrest. It said it will reassess after cleanup to determine what was lost. The Plumas Pines Resort said in a Facebook post its restaurant sustained damage and will be closed through Friday. McGowan said he expects a lot more damage to be discovered between now and the beginning of June as the area is just starting to open for the season. He said a survey of damage may take some time to complete because many properties in the area are used only for vacations. He said propane and water lines in the area were switched off. Plumas County Supervisor Tom McGowan said he received reports of damage in the area but no serious or structural damages. Moreno said PG&E will be conducting physical inspections of facilities by air and ground. PG&E’s Plumas County hydro control center had no reports of any issues or flow changes with dams or hydroelectric facilities at 6:07 p.m., according to PG&E Marketing and Communications principal Paul Moreno. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Canyon Dam, which is operated by PG&E.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |