los angeles is next

[devilsslide 0]

In today's Los Angeles Daily News:http://www2.dailynews.com/news/ci_3018398Disaster plans fall shortOfficials fear flooding hereBy Josh Kleinbaum and Rachel Uranga, Staff Writers "When the long-feared Big One finally hits Southern California, it will come with the element of surprise of the 9-11 attacks compounded by the fury of nature - like that unleashed by Hurricane Katrina. Experts warn Los Angeles will be hard-pressed to deal with the calamity - likely an earthquake at least magnitude 7.0 - despite the millions of dollars spent each year to train and equip emergency workers who have demonstrated their skill in numerous disasters, from quakes to floods to firestorms....""Officials have developed no large-scale plan for evacuating the city of 3.8 million residents...."I can't wait :shock: I didn't really enjoy the one in '94." 'The overriding question is, what will we learn from Katrina?' "

[aadams_22 3]

I also live in a high seismic area. We live in the New Madrid Fault zone (states of IL, MO, AR, KY, TN), and although it's not as well known as the San Andreas we are still in a high risk for our "big one." What most people don't know is that the two largest earthquakes to ever hit the mainland USA have occured on the New Madrid Fault zone and not on the San Andreas, and we keep hearing that we are way overdue as well. One of the earthquakes also caused the Mississippi River to flow north for days afterwards. The USGS has predicted that if the big one ever hit here it is possible that it could destroy everything from St. Louis to Memphis. St. Louis is 285 miles from Memphis so that should give you an idea of what we are looking at. As far as I know there aren't many municipalities that have emergency plans in place for the "big one" here either, so I know where you are coming from.Here's a list of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the USA.http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/10...10maps_usa.htmlNotice that the two largest "mainland USA" earthquakes are at #5 and #8.

[missIdaho 1]

Oh come.....the '94 quake was fun. I had great time sleeping in front of my house in a tent and using a neighbors pool water to flush the toilets. Good times....good times.. (sw)

[KDawgCometh 2]

i think seattle is long overdue for a big earthquake itself. I have read that every 300-400 years a really massive earthquake rocks the northwest area of the US, and it is on the size of around 9.0s

[missIdaho 1]

i think seattle is long overdue for a big earthquake itself. I have read that every 300-400 years a really massive earthquake rocks the northwest area of the US, and it is on the size of around 9.0s

Live in Seattle? Everytime I go there It's seems I'm always stuck in traffic in the rain. My Firm has an office in Seattle. Having to go there is one of things I don't like about my job.

[MDXS 0]

Forget earthquakes...wait until the supervolcano under Yellowstone explodes.

[UglyJimStudly 0]

Yeah, I live in Vancouver, which has similar issues, though not as many people. Here it's compounded by the fact that many people in the Fraser Valley have at least one bridge between them and any likely safe zone, and those routes can barely handle rush hour traffic, let alone any kind of mass evacuation. Such is life.The "good" news is that those sorts of events occur in geological time, in which tomorrow and 300 years from now are part of the same eyeblink to good old mother earth. So while it's inevitable that a big quake will hit the west coast (or any other active fault, or that the supervolcano under Yellowstone will blow, etc.), it's easy enough for people to convince themselves that it won't happen in our lifetime.

[angler 0]

There must be something happening in terms of better disaster planning for North America. We received an email from our Provincial gov't at work this week which included a registration form for joining disaster relief efforts at a moments notice. The form did not seem hurried at all and asks specific questions regarding each individuals training and the conditions that they would face, or be willing to face. Hopefully it is happening everywhere, the cover letter seemed to imply that it was.Then again, I still have this habit of being optimistic.