After witnessing the devastation of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan, I can't help but wonder what would happen if the United States faced a similar crisis on its Pacific coast. While this country has withstood its share of natural disasters, the mere fact that earthquakes can happen at any moment of any given day without any warning is a scary concept. What's worse is that we're not immune to the kind of tragedy that is unfolding on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
For starters, California sits atop the San Andreas fault line and there are several sister fault lines in the San Francisco Bay area alone. That, in itself, makes me cognizant of just how plausible it would be for the United States to face similar devastation. The San Andreas fault has been the epicenter of a handful of serious earthquakes in the past, the largest of them being a 7.9-magnitude tremor in 1857. However, the population of California has grown extensively since then and a 9.0-magnitude quake, as was experienced in Japan, could seriously cripple the Golden State. With three of its major cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, along the coast, a 31-foot wall of water would devastate the region. Those three cities have a combined population of close to 6 million.
In addition, the United States has four of the nation's 104 licensed nuclear reactors located in southern California. The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, with two reactors, was built right on the shoreline in San Luis Obispo County, which makes it extremely vulnerable to tsunamis. The San Onofre power plant in southern San Diego County, which also sits on the Pacific coastline, is said to have been built to withstand a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. That's all well and good, but what if a larger quake shook the region?
And then there's the issue of infrastructure stability. In 1989, when San Francisco was hit by a 6.9-magnitude quake, bridges and highways collapsed. A portion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay replacement bridge is still under construction over 20 years later. And that tremor lasted roughly 15 seconds; the quake in Japan shook the nation for over two minutes. Tom Heaton, an engineering seismologist at Cal Tech, admitted that, compared to Japan, California is nowhere near as prepared for such a violent quake. If that's the case, if I lived in California, I would be seriously considering a move.
If you ask me, it seems that earthquakes have been getting more severe in strength. Consider the devastation that was caused by the 9.1-magnitude earthquake and tsunami near Indonesia in 2004 – over 200,000 people killed. Then, of course, there was the 8.8-magnitude tremblor that rocked Chile just over a year ago – over 500 people killed. While the earthquake in Haiti only registered as a 7 on the Richter scale, it caused severe damage due to the fact that the epicenter was near a very populated location – between 50,000 and 200,000 people killed.
That many major quakes in a seven-year span is quite rare and has been deemed a statistical anomaly by some. With the death toll in Japan still rising and Prime Minister Naoto Kan describing the ordeal as the nation's worst crisis since World War II, I can't even begin to fathom what would happen if we were faced with similar devastation. Let's hope we don't have to.
Jennie Oemig
Staff Writer
Trempealeau County Times
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