Research modeling a major earthquake in SoCal is being updated. Why?
Eighteen years ago on Nov. 13, Southern Californians imagined that a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck. It was for a drill that’s since evolved into an annual observance to practice preparedness for the ever-looming Big One . The drill was focused on drop, cover and hold on, a mantra that should — ideally — feel ingrained in Californians in the event of a tremor. The decision to focus it on this guidance, as renowned seismologist Lucy Jones told the USA TODAY Network, was in response to an earthquake in Southern California that year. She was in a room full of emergency managers at the time of the tremor. They all went underneath a table. But news reports captured people running out of buildings, the very response officials say not to do. It’s just one factor that informed the major earthquake drill held that November, a drill that came out of the ShakeOut Scenario. It was a project led by Jones that modeled a magnitude-7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault, predicted to cause about 1,800 deaths and $213 billion in economic losses. It had been unveiled earlier that year, right around the time of a devastating earthquake in China, Jones said.
Southern California, CA · 1d
