LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE: A HISTORICAL NOTE

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salsinawi
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LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE: A HISTORICAL NOTE

Post by salsinawi » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:27 pm

Colleagues:

As you know, we should never forget that the clock is running, not only in the Long Beach area but in every earthquake-prone region.

Best regards,

Walter Hays

walter_hays@msn.com



LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE: A HISTORICAL NOTE

March 10, 1933

Seventy-five years ago at 5:54 p. m. on March 10th, a moderate magnitude earthquake struck Long Beach, killing 115 and destroying 70 schools and other structures. Since then, Southern California’s perspective on earthquakes and ways to monitor, mitigate, and adapt to the perceived risks from earthquakes have never been the same.

Although much smaller than the magnitude 8.25 San Francisco earthquake that happened 27 years earlier in 1906 on the San Andreas fault system, the magnitude 6.3 Long Beach earthquake was highly significant from historical, scientific, and political points of view. The 1933 quake occurred on the 46-mile-long Newport-Inglewood fault and generated violent ground shaking in the Long Beach area. The earthquake demonstrated the fragility of unreinforced masonry construction, which was common throughout California in 1933.

The extensive damage to schools was unacceptable, and policy makers took action to enact improved school construction standards and to increase public awareness of earthquake risks throughout California.
The population density and the building inventory in the epicentral region were sparse in 1933, but not today. Buildings of all heights and functions fill the region along with extensive infrastructure providing the essential services of supply, disposal, transportation, and communication.

California is now known throughout the world as “Earthquake Country.”
Research by USGS and university scientists indicate that the Newport-Inglewood fault system is capable of producing a 7.0 earthquake.. Depending on the time of day when such an earthquake occurred, the death toll that reached 3,000 to 8,000, and economic losses could reach $175 to $220 billion. SIS

On the basis of the historical Seismicity, Southern California is currently considered to be overdue for the recurrence of a moderate to large magnitude earthquake

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