The West Coast of the USA is overdue to have a massive earthquake along the San Andreas fault, a fracture in the Earth’s crust spanning 800 miles across California

23:04, 14 Mar 2025Updated 23:04, 14 Mar 2025

After 75 seconds, high-intensity tremors would roll in(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

The West Coast of the USA is overdue to have a massive earthquake along the San Andreas fault, a fracture in the Earth’s crust spanning 800 miles across California.

The earthquake is anticipated to have a magnitude of 8, and would cause chaos in the state’s cities. It is estimated that it would cause around 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage, according to the Great California Shakeout.

Experts say this is an underestimate.

It is impossible to predict when ‘The Big One’ – or any earthquake – will occur, but experts are quite confident it could strike within the next 30 years.

Geologic studies suggest a large-magnitude earthquake occurs along the San Andreas fault every 150 years, with the last being 167 years ago.

California
The earthquake is anticipated to have a magnitude of 8(Image: USGS/WikiCommons)

Director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory Christie Rowe told the Daily Mail: “We want people to know that this could happen at any time.

“It could be another 300 years, or it could happen tomorrow.”

When the huge earthquake hits, intense ground shaking will start in the first 30 seconds. Cities and towns in a 60-mile range of the epicenter and places on the fault line like Palm Springs could have shaking up to an intensity of level 9.

The shaking, considered ‘violent’, could cause significant damage to buildings and make some collapse or shift off their foundations, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Firefighters battle an electrical fire in a mobile home park in Ridgecrest, California, on July 6, 2019 following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on July 5.
The shaking, considered ‘violent’, could cause significant damage to buildings(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

If the epicentre is located near the Salton Sea, level 2 to 3 shaking would reach Los Angeles around 45 seconds after the initial rupture, the Great California Shakeout said.

After 75 seconds, high-intensity tremors would roll in, increasing ground movement until violent shaking at level 9 would hit at about 90 seconds.

Violent shaking could rock Los Angeles for at least one minute, the Shakeout said.

A Firefighter walks block by block surveying damage following the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta Earthquake, October 19, 1989 in San Francisco, California
Violent shaking could rock Los Angeles for at least one minute, the Shakeout said(Image: Getty Images)

Extensive damage would likely have occurred by this time, meaning buildings would have crumbled. If infrastructure is destroyed, many people could be injured or die.

Rowe said: “The magnitude of damage is so great that it’s not trivial to prepare for it.”

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By staronline@reachplc.com (Rebecca Whalley)

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