Los Angeles Earthquake Research Paper

BE PREPARED FOR AN EARTHQUAKE
Earthquakes in Los Angeles, California can be devastating to people, cities, and the landscape. Earthquakes can cause millions if not billions of dollars of damage in only a matter of a few minutes. The more populated the area where the earthquake strikes or the earthquakes epicenter, the more the disaster can occur. Buildings are constructed to an earthquake code, but that does not mean there can be no damage to them. Brick faces can fall, windows can shatter, and structures can become unsafe. Bridges can buckle and with that their support beams and vital components can ultimately fall down to the ground in a pile of twisted steel. Water and sewage pipes can rupture filling buildings with water and poisonous
sewage. The worst of all the damage that an earthquake can do is that people can die. There is so much that can be of a hazard when an earthquake strikes the greater city of Los Angeles. Ground motion is the primary effect of an earthquake. The motion is from the passage of the waves from the earthquakes are responsible for most of the damages.
There are also secondary effects that can be a disastrous to Los Angeles like faulting and ground ruptures, aftershocks, and fires. Earthquakes originate from the sudden movement of faults. As the faults move, in any direction, the blocks of rock on both sides of the fault will rub against each other and that cause the vibrations. The more the faults move, the larger the amount and intensity of vibrations in the earthquake will be. The reason that Los Angeles is prone to an earthquake at any given time is because the center of the city is located directly above a group of thrust faults. These faults occur at convergent boundaries. It is also located closely the fault known as the San Andreas Fault, which has produced some of the largest earthquakes the world has ever seen. Thrust faults can give way to immense pressure, which will cause one slab of rock to push against another slab of rock and ultimately it will push the other plate upward. Earthquakes have devastated Los Angeles in the past. The largest quake in modern history was the Fort Tejon Earthquake in 1857. It measured 8.0 on the Richter scale. Southern California was scarcely populated, so
the damage was a fraction of what it would have been today. The Newport-Inglewood Fault had a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on March 10th, 1933 at 5:54 p.m.. It had caused more than $50 million in property damage. The most disastrous earthquake to strike the Los Angeles area was the magnitude 6.7 Northridge Earthquake. This quake struck in the early morning hours at 4:31a.m. on January 17, 1994. There were a reported 57 deaths and more than 12,000 injuries, and FEMA estimated the property damage to more than 100,000 different structures.
The cost of these property damages is to be larger than $40 billion dollars. More than 600,000 people had filed for disaster assistance. Earthquakes are not distributed throughout the world. There are usually concentrated specific areas, and Los Angeles is right in one of those specific areas. Earthquakes that could hit Los Angeles in the future cannot and will not cease to happen. Scientists started using a new model to study the likeliness of an earthquake in the state of California in 2008. At the time, USGS geophysicist and lead scientist Ned Field said, “This new, comprehensive forecast advances our understanding of earthquakes and pulls together existing research with new techniques and data. Planners, decision makers and California residents can use this information to improve public safety and mitigate damage before the next destructive earthquake occurs”. The new model shows that there is a 99% chance of Los Angeles being hit with a 6.7 or larger magnitude, and a 46% chance that the earthquake could exceed the magnitude of 7.4 within the next 25 years. So the people of Los Angeles need to be prepared for an earthquake at all times. The odds of
an earthquake that will literally shake up Los Angeles are very very high.

Stephen A Nelson (2013) Earthquake Hazards and Risks, Retrieved from: http://wwnw.tulane.edu/~sanelson/Natural_Disasters/eqhazards&risks.htm Colorado Geological Survey (2013) Origin of Earthquakes Retrieved From: http://geosurvey.state.co.us/hazards/Earthquakes/Pages/Definition.aspx Teacher (2008) Earthquakes: Los Angeles Retrieved From: http://access.teachersdomain.org/resources/ess05/sci/ess/earthsys/thrustfault/index.html Los Angeles County Online (n.d.) Earthquakes Retrieved From: http://lacoa.org/historicalinfo.htm Science Daily (2008) Origin of Earthquakes Retrieved From: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080414203459.htm References
Advantages4all. (2013). Solar, Geothermal and Wind Energy. Retrieved from http://www.advantagesofsolarenergy4all.com/