4 ms·
Hello from the East Bay, home of the Hayward Fault Line: The last five major events were in 1315, 1470, 1630, 1725, and 1868, which have intervals of about 140
by nickbp 16y ago
Hello from the East Bay, home of the Hayward Fault Line:
The last five major events were in 1315, 1470, 1630, 1725, and 1868, which have intervals of about 140 years (note that 2008 is 140 years from the major 1868 event).
If a major earthquake were to occur on the fault, damage would be catastrophic. More than 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in property exists in the affected area, and more than 165 billion US dollars in damage would likely result if the 1868 quake were to recur.
The estimated probability of a major earthquake on the Hayward within the next thirty years was estimated at nearly 30 percent, compared to about 20 percent for the San Andreas Fault, which can have larger earthquakes but farther away from a significant portion of the urbanized parts of the Bay Area.
(various rips from Wikipedia)
- reneherse 16y agoYup, and one of the major concerns in the East Bay are so called "soft story" buildings: homes and apartment buildings with ground floors largely open to create garage and retail space and therefore lacking adequate shear structure to resist earthquake forces. It's a well documented problem, with huge loss of life and housing stock predicted in the event of a large earthquake on the Hayward fault. Not sure exactly what measures other cities are taking to improve the situation, but you can learn more on the City of Berkeley site: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=622 http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=622 There's a list where you can look up whether your building is structurally vulnerable or has been retrofit.