The forgotten fault line awakened: an earthquake of 8 magnitude! – Cyprus Newspaper

The US’s 5.2 -magnitude earthquake in Southern California, the US, re -exacerbated concerns about the Elsinore fault, which has long been silent.

Although all the attention is directed to the San Andreas fault, the experts warned that the “big earthquake” could come from an unexpected source, from the Elsinore fault.

The Elsinore Fault extends to about 160 kilometers from the US-Mexican border to Los Angeles via San Diego and Riverside districts. According to the California Institute of Technology, this fault line is one of the biggest risks in the region.

Sismologist Lucy Jones says Elsinore has the potential to produce a 7.8 -magnitude earthquake. This fault, which has not produced an earthquake of over 6.0 since 1910, tends to have a great concussion every 100-200 years.

A large earthquake that may occur in the Elsinore fault can be effective from San Diego to Los Angeles and even Las Vegas. In 2017, the US Geological Research Institution (USGS) simulated a 7.8 -magnitude earthquake starting from Elsinore to the Whittier fault. This scenario has shown that it can lead to serious consequences such as structural damage, loss of life and economic destruction in Los Angeles.

Dr. According to Jones, an increasing seismic mobility in the region, as in the 1980s in recent years, has attracted attention. Landers (1992) and Northridge (1994), which occurred in the 1990s, have reduced tectonic stress in the region, causing a long period of silence. However, this silence is now thought to end.

A possible 8.0 -magnitude earthquake on the San Andreas Fault is estimated to cause the death of a thousand 800 people throughout California, and 50 thousand people may be injured. However, experts point out that an earthquake on the same scale may occur in the Elsinore fault.