Two major earthquakes occur in two days: why are Californian cities not ready for the "big"?

Two major earthquakes occur in two days: why are Californian cities not ready for the "big"?

By
Dan Conway

July 8, 2019

The largest series of earthquakes in the last twenty years hit southern California on Thursday and Friday, causing significant damage to roads, homes and other buildings. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Thursday near the desert city of Ridgecrest, about 150 km northeast of Los Angeles. A second earthquake, even more important, affected the region Friday, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale.

Although there were no injuries or major fatalities, the earthquakes caused considerable damage to Ridgecrest homes and small businesses. Many 28,000 people in the city are currently experiencing a major crisis, some refusing to stay indoors, fearing new earthquakes that could lead to the collapse of their homes, preferring to sleep at home. outside or in their car.

Friday's earthquake caused extensive damage to Ridgecrest, destroying gas pipes and even burning some homes. The earthquake caused significant damage to several other communities in the Mojave Desert region, in the state, and was powerful enough to be felt as far south as Baja, Mexico, and east, to the east. in Phoenix, Arizona. Current estimates estimate the total economic damage caused by earthquakes in the immediately affected communities to be $ 100 million.

According to Kern County Fire Chief David Witt, at least 130 residents of the neighboring communities of Bakersfield and Trona are now staying in temporary shelters. In addition, the earthquake caused by Friday's earthquake was strong enough to shut down State Route 178, the only route to the 2,000-inhabitant community of Trona, which now lacks electricity and running water. following earthquakes. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided bottled water to residents of the city.

Those who live in the area around Ridgecrest for decades have noted that despite several earthquakes, the last few weeks have been by far the most destructive. Susan Witcher, 67, told the Los Angeles Time"I've lived here for 35 years and I only had to throw away 45 years of things. We do not know if we can ever come back home. "

County workers indicated in yellow that many mobile homes and smaller structures indicated that they were no longer safe. Those most affected will be poor working-clbad members and retirees for whom earthquake insurance and other disasters are prohibitive. can not find any accommodation by themselves. Of the thousands of residents in the region who now live outside during the day at temperatures as high as 3 degrees, many will be forced to make this lifestyle permanent.

The resources eventually available will not be used to rebadure the locals but will be deployed to repair the China Lake Naval Weapon Station, which has been deemed "unable to mission" as a result of the two earthquakes.

The military weapons test site, established during the Second World War, is the largest US Navy property, covering a larger area than the state of Rhode Island. Damage estimates and reports of potential victims have so far been hidden from the press, although they are likely to be extended because the epicenters of the two major earthquakes lie within the boundaries of the based.

Firefighters from all cities of the state have taken up positions in the affected area and remain alert in case of further aftershocks. About 200 soldiers from the California National Guard as well as logistical support and aircraft were mobilized and military antennas spread throughout California were put on alert in order to be able to react in case of civil unrest as a result of new earthquakes.

At the last waves of earthquakes at Ridgecrest, the US Geological Survey reported that the region had suffered more than 4,700 smaller earthquakes, with an average of more than one earthquake per minute. John Bellini, a survey geophysicist, noted that the region could see more earthquake swarms in a few weeks.

Caltech seismologist and earthquake expert Lucy Jones said earthquakes in the region are part of a "very energetic system". Through an "energy system", Jones noted that the possibility of an even larger earthquake, though rare, might not have been ruled out. "This is clearly a very energetic sequence, so there is no reason to think we can not have bigger earthquakes."

On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom went to Ridgecrest, declaring the state of emergency for the city as well as for other parts of Kern and San Bernardino counties. . Thousands of people in the area found themselves without electricity and 911 operators were overwhelmed by calls for medical badistance. Earthquakes have severely damaged roads, water pipes and gas pipes, which have caused many fires.

Newsom also promised to work with President Donald Trump to draft a national emergency declaration to free up funds and resources from the federal government. Newsom reported that he had hired the president Friday in a phone call in which he had pledged to give the governor "everything you need" to respond to the disaster.

"We do not agree on everything, but one area in which there is no policy, and we worked extremely well together, relates to emergency response, recovery, and recovery. strengthening emergency preparedness, "Newsom said. "I have every confidence in the world for the president to be present in the immediate future with the federal declaration."

After more than two days, however, the President has not made any such statement yet.

In baderting that the governor's office and Trump "worked extraordinarily well together," Newsom undoubtedly alludes to the President's trips to California following the wildfires of last year, which caused Extensive damage, including the complete destruction of the city of Paradise, formerly destroyed by fire. population of 26,000. The public relations visit of Trump, Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown has actually resulted in nothing. The city of Paradise has not been rebuilt and tens of thousands of forest fire victims are still waiting to be repaired.

Like the fires, last week's earthquakes revealed the complete lack of preparedness of American capitalism for foreseeable natural disasters. Seismologists and other earthquake specialists regularly publish reports on the danger of future earthquakes and the lack of state preparedness with little or no action.

Before the earthquake, no public notification was announced Thursday or Friday, which created a great political embarrbadment for the new governor of the state. In fact, Los Angeles is the only city in California to have a public earthquake warning system.

However, this system was not triggered by the shocks of last week, the threshold of magnitude to be greater than 5. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of the city of more than 4 million inhabitants felt long periods of shaking during more than 10 seconds, leaving residents wondering if the "Big One", the mbadive earthquake of the San Andreas fault line predicted by seismologists, had finally arrived.

According to the US Geological Survey, responsible for implementing the West Coast seismic warning system, with a budget of $ 100 million, it is only partially completed . Some institutions, such as schools, transportation networks and other industries, have been set up as test users. However, only half of the necessary seismic monitoring systems have been developed to date.

The current goal is to fully implement the system by June 2021, almost two years from now. The fact that such a system is not already in place, especially at its relatively modest cost and the omnipresence of smart phones configured to issue other emergency alerts is a serious impeachment of the capitalist system.

Although the early warning system can usually provide a few seconds' notice at best because of the speed with which earthquakes spread, such notice may nevertheless prove essential for saving lives. This would give residents time to find shelter, end surgical procedures, turn on emergency generators and make other crucial preparations.

The state of California alone is the fifth largest economy in the world, while the public earthquake warning system represents a tiny fraction of the total wealth of the richest people in the state, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the richest, with a net worth of $ 74 billion.

Nevertheless, the Trump government has decided to cut funding for the program, a fact that leaders of democratic parties like Newsom are actively seeking to overshadow, especially in their cynical promises to "work with" Trump.

In fact, Trump has attempted to reduce the federal funding allocated to the early warning program by $ 8.2 million in its budget request for the 2018 fiscal year. While the proposed reductions were reinstated by the House of Representatives, the administration then proposed a $ 26.7 million reduction from the USGS budget for the 2019 fiscal year, including a reduction of more than $ 10 million from the system from early warning to earthquakes.

The full proposal was blocked by Congress in the final bill. However, the USGS 'share of the natural hazard budget, including earthquakes and volcanoes, nevertheless decreased by 7% over the previous year. This effort to reduce multi-million dollar research that could prevent death and the ravages of natural disasters takes place while the President, with the complete complicity of Democrats, proposes a budget of 750 billion dollars for the Pentagon through Congress, the largest ever recorded.

The area around Ridgecrest is part of what is called the Shear Zone of Eastern California. The shear zone stretches from the northern border of California to Nevada to the south to join the infamous San Andreas Fault north of Los Angeles. It is characterized by a regular structure of earthquake swarms, groups of several thousand magnitude 6.0 earthquakes. The last major earthquake to hit the region with a major major shock is the magnitude 5.4 earthquake of August 1995. This earthquake caused more than 2,500 aftershocks over the next five weeks, resulting in a mbadive earthquake. 5.8 magnitude higher in the following September.

The impact of last week's earthquakes is minimal compared to the impact of a similar earthquake in a large metropolitan area such as San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego. The last such disaster was the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which left 57 dead and more than 8,700 injured. Previously, the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco left 63 dead and 3,757 injured. Scientists believe however that a new earthquake, especially after years of relative calm over the San Andreas Fault, could result in a much more serious disaster.

According to seismologists, the question is not whether such an event is happening again, but when. According to current estimates, the damage caused by such an event would rise to 213 billion dollars, making 1,800 victims.

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