California earthquake drill today


Southern California residents may hear earthquake sirens today, but there’s no reason to be greatly alarmed, it’s all part of a massive drill.

The Great Southern California ShakeOut drill is being run at 10 am PST in conjuction with a dozen colleges and universities. The University of California will be staging events at its Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego campuses.

According to the official ShakeOut site

In an earthquake of this size, the shaking will last for nearly two minutes. The strongest shaking will occur near the fault (in the projected earthquake, the Coachella Valley, Inland Empire and Antelope Valley). Pockets of strong shaking will form away from the fault where sediments trap the waves (in the projected earthquake, it would occur in the San Gabriel Valley and in East Los Angeles).

An earthquake of this size will cause unprecedented damage to Southern California—greatly dwarfing the massive damage that occurred in Northridge’s 6.7-magnitude earthquake in 1994. In summary, the ShakeOut Scenario estimates this earthquake will cause some 2,000 deaths, 50,000 injuries, $200 billion in damage and other losses, and severe, long-lasting disruption. The report has regional implications and is a dramatic call to action for preparedness.

More details here, and the official video as follows:

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