California hit by earthquake, US West Coast shaken

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The west coast of California was hit by an earthquake, it was felt 5 am US time and saw major concerns.

The earthquake was of magnitude 4.4 and 57 miles east of Riverside, however there are no reports of injuries or damage at this time.

In Seal Beach, Victorville, Redlands, Lancaster and other areas in Southern California area relatively strong earthquake were felt and Californians took to twitter to describe the earthquake.

Some said that it was an unpleasant wake up call, another said that he isn’t aware from where it originated but it had shaken the whole house.

Some of them got worried that the earthquake might be a precursor to the Big One which might devastate California.

The account Aircraft Spots mentioned that the very large earthquake was felt, it shook me away and was loud. It knocked a few things down and had not felt one that big so far.California is located on the top of the North American and Pacific tectonic plates and the San Andreas fault runs through it.

Residents of the southwestern state and scientists showed huge concerns

Richard Aster, Professor of Geophysics at Colorado State University wrote recently for the Conversation mentioned that the situation of earthquake in California is more dire. Many Californians can recount the experience which most of them had never experienced personally.With magnitude of seven or greater , California is located actually in an earthquake drought.

Earlier in 1906 an earthquake of magnitude more than seven had struck San Francisco killing around 3,000 people.

Prof Aster said that the damage could have  been more severe this time. He further mentioned that California population has grown more than 20-fold after the 1906 earthquake. It is currently close to 40 million.

Despite having the most advanced preparedness in the world, there might be serious devastation.

He further said that California’s infrastructure, response planning  will be tested in case the inevitable, long-delayed ‘big ones’ occur along the San Andreas Fault System.Casualty level are hard to project and hinging on the severity of associated hazards like landslides and fires.

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