After the recent string of earthquakes (and all those Facebook posts your friends keep putting up about “earthquake weather”) you might have started to think: hey, maybe I should get prepared for a big shaker? Well, you probably should. You should also recommend everyone else do the same as shit sounds like it might get pretty bad.
The Los Angeles Times reports on the lack of preparation for the big one in Southern California and how things could go after a big shaker:
One of the most ominous is the looming threat on the edge of Southern California’s sprawling metropolis — the Cajon Pass. It’s a narrow mountain pass where the San Andreas fault — California’s longest and one of its most dangerous — intersects with combustible natural gas and petroleum pipelines, electrical transmission lines, train tracks and Interstate 15 north of San Bernardino.
A huge earthquake on the San Andreas could move one side of the fault as much as 30 feet from the other. Such an earthquake would rupture flammable pipelines and lead to a catastrophic explosion so powerful it leaves behind a crater.
Yes, you read that right. A freakin’ crater!!
And if utilities aren’t able to shut off the flow of petroleum or natural gas, firefighters could be helpless to keep a raging wildfire from spreading across the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, just as the rest of Southern California staggers from the worst earthquake it has seen in more than 150 years.
So, now that you are terrified, you should know there is hope. Scientists recommend installing shutoff valves on the pipeline and more remote-control gas shut-off valves for natural gas.
Businesses should also come up with a plan and you should get to know everyone in your neighborhood – as neighborhoods will either survive or die based on which ones work together to recover and which ones simply give up and bail out of town.
