Little-known quake is remembered By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

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Little-known quake is remembered By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

58 minLittle-known quake is remembered By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

58 minutes ago

 

 

 

LOS ANGELES - It's the California earthquake hardly anyone has heard of —

strong enough to rip 225 miles of the San Andreas Fault and make rivers run

backward, but leaving nothing like the cultural scar inflicted by the San

Francisco Quake of 1906.

 

 

 

Tuesday marks the 150th anniversary of the magnitude-7.9 Fort Tejon quake, which

was blamed for just two deaths in what was then sparsely populated California.

 

No museum exhibits or musical tributes will mark the 1857 event, sometimes

referred to as the forgotten quake. There will be no public gatherings or bells

tolling to mark the moment the ground split open, as there were for the 1906

centennial of the San Francisco quake, a catastrophe that left 3,000 people dead

and reduced much of the city to ash and rubble.

 

" It'll never have the same hold on the public's imagination as the 1906

earthquake, " said Sean Malis, an interpreter at Fort Tejon State Historic Park,

a 70-mile drive high into mountains north of Los Angeles. " It'll continue to be

a footnote in history. "

 

Still, scientists do not want to pass up the opportunity to warn the public

about the threat the fault poses and how to prepare for it. They say a repeat of

Fort Tejon in the now-populous Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles — one

of the fastest-growing areas in Southern California — could kill thousands of

people and cauase of tens of billions of dollars in damage.

 

To drive home the point, the U.S. Geological Survey and other groups on

Tuesday are kicking off a yearlong campaign to warn people to prepare for the

Big One. The education campaign will culminate in 2008 with what officials say

will be the biggest earthquake disaster drill in U.S. history.

 

" We're not trying to scare people, " said Tom Jordan, who heads the Southern

California Earthquake Center. " We want to make sure that people are constantly

reminded about the possibility of a much larger earthquake. "

 

California is prone to earthquakes because it straddles two massive plates that

make up Earth's crust. Quakes occur when the plates grind past each other along

the 800-mile-long San Andreas and its offshoot faults.

 

While scientists cannot predict when the next quake will strike on the San

Andreas, they say the southern segment that runs from the city of San

Bernardino, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, to near the Mexican border is the most

likely to break, since it has been building up stress for the longest time. It

hasn't popped in three centuries.

 

According to some estimates, there is a 30 percent to 70 percent chance a

magnitude 7.5 to 7.8 quake would rupture the southern San Andreas within the

next 30 years.

 

" It's really dangerous, " said seismologist Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological

Survey. " It could be any day. "

 

The Fort Tejon quake hit on the morning of Jan. 9, 1857, breaking a 225-mile

middle portion of the San Andreas from Parkfield, northwest of Los Angeles, to

San Bernardino.

 

The ground shifted up to 30 feet in places. Rivers were reported to have run

backward or been thrown out of their banks. The Army's lonely Fort Tejon was hit

hard — two buildings were left uninhabitable and three others were badly

damaged.

 

One woman was killed when an adobe house collapsed on her. The death toll has

historically also included a man who died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles

plaza.

 

While 11 people who survived the magnitude-7.8 San Francisco quake were on hand

for last year's remembrances, members of the Fort Tejon quake live only in

history books.

 

___

 

On the Net:

 

U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov

 

Southern California Earthquake Center: http://www.scec.org

utes ago

 

 

 

LOS ANGELES - It's the California earthquake hardly anyone has heard of —

strong enough to rip 225 miles of the San Andreas Fault and make rivers run

backward, but leaving nothing like the cultural scar inflicted by the San

Francisco Quake of 1906.

 

 

 

Tuesday marks the 150th anniversary of the magnitude-7.9 Fort Tejon quake, which

was blamed for just two deaths in what was then sparsely populated California.

 

No museum exhibits or musical tributes will mark the 1857 event, sometimes

referred to as the forgotten quake. There will be no public gatherings or bells

tolling to mark the moment the ground split open, as there were for the 1906

centennial of the San Francisco quake, a catastrophe that left 3,000 people dead

and reduced much of the city to ash and rubble.

 

" It'll never have the same hold on the public's imagination as the 1906

earthquake, " said Sean Malis, an interpreter at Fort Tejon State Historic Park,

a 70-mile drive high into mountains north of Los Angeles. " It'll continue to be

a footnote in history. "

 

Still, scientists do not want to pass up the opportunity to warn the public

about the threat the fault poses and how to prepare for it. They say a repeat of

Fort Tejon in the now-populous Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles — one

of the fastest-growing areas in Southern California — could kill thousands of

people and cauase of tens of billions of dollars in damage.

 

To drive home the point, the U.S. Geological Survey and other groups on

Tuesday are kicking off a yearlong campaign to warn people to prepare for the

Big One. The education campaign will culminate in 2008 with what officials say

will be the biggest earthquake disaster drill in U.S. history.

 

" We're not trying to scare people, " said Tom Jordan, who heads the Southern

California Earthquake Center. " We want to make sure that people are constantly

reminded about the possibility of a much larger earthquake. "

 

California is prone to earthquakes because it straddles two massive plates that

make up Earth's crust. Quakes occur when the plates grind past each other along

the 800-mile-long San Andreas and its offshoot faults.

 

While scientists cannot predict when the next quake will strike on the San

Andreas, they say the southern segment that runs from the city of San

Bernardino, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, to near the Mexican border is the most

likely to break, since it has been building up stress for the longest time. It

hasn't popped in three centuries.

 

According to some estimates, there is a 30 percent to 70 percent chance a

magnitude 7.5 to 7.8 quake would rupture the southern San Andreas within the

next 30 years.

 

" It's really dangerous, " said seismologist Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological

Survey. " It could be any day. "

 

The Fort Tejon quake hit on the morning of Jan. 9, 1857, breaking a 225-mile

middle portion of the San Andreas from Parkfield, northwest of Los Angeles, to

San Bernardino.

 

The ground shifted up to 30 feet in places. Rivers were reported to have run

backward or been thrown out of their banks. The Army's lonely Fort Tejon was hit

hard — two buildings were left uninhabitable and three others were badly

damaged.

 

One woman was killed when an adobe house collapsed on her. The death toll has

historically also included a man who died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles

plaza.

 

While 11 people who survived the magnitude-7.8 San Francisco quake were on hand

for last year's remembrances, members of the Fort Tejon quake live only in

history books.

 

___

 

On the Net:

 

U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov

 

Southern California Earthquake Center: http://www.scec.org

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain