The Puente Hills thrust fault is far less renowned that the more famous San Andreas fault, but experts are convinced it is to blame for the 5.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked Los Angeles and surroundings on Friday, March 28, 2014 and for the following 100 aftershocks throughout the region.
So is ‘The quake from Hell’ going to be triggered by this fault?
Scientists affirm another serious tremor there could cause grave consequences for Southern California. As shown in the graphic above, the Puente Hills thrust fault stretches across northern Orange County into downtown Los Angeles all the way into Hollywood. A quake along this fault would kill two times more people than a similar sized tremor along the San Andreas fault.
According to the LA Times:
This fault actually produces a worse earthquake than the San Andreas can. It won’t be quite as big magnitude, but because we have so many people on top of it…it will be worse.
Serious quakes along the Puente Hills thrust fault are expected only once every 2,500 years. But scientists don’t know when the last major tremor occurred.
In three words: Specialists are worried. What about you?
