California Magazine asked me to contribute a feature on the potential ramifications of a major Bay Area earthquake to its apocalypse-themed issue in 2014.
During a stint at the US Geological Survey, I received a crash course in the seismology of this region and how pretty much all of us here lack a clear conception of what might actually happen. Some people point to experiencing the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake as preparation enough—the experts say to prepare for much worse. 1906 was a huge quake, but a century of growth has raised the stakes, putting millions of people and billions of dollars of infrastructure in variety of risky situations, from unstable ground to corridors of fire. Real feel-good stuff.
The challenge of stories like these is that while it’s important to understand the threat, from a practical perspective that turns people away—they don’t want to think about death and destruction. We see it all the time, from climate change to pandemic. I wrote a long article looking at many more aspects of our seismic situation when I was at Berkeley and will post it on this site.
Timothy Lesle 