USGS Raises Awareness of “the big one” LA Style in the Great SoCal ShakeOut

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal today, Los Angeles is 178 years overdue for "the big one," a massive earthquake of approximately 7.8 magnitude. So, in order to alert residents of the region to the dangers as well as how to prepare for a huge temblor, the USGS, in conjunction with the California Earthquake Authority, the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) at USC, and sponsors like Home Depot and State Farm Insurance, is making November 13 the Great Southern California ShakeOut, essentially a massive earthquake preparedness drill. According to the WSJ, it was hard getting people excited about the drill, though…until the 5.4 magnitude shaker during this past summer in LA. Then people began to take notice that his wasn’t such a bad idea and people started signing up to take part at the "ShakeOut" website. But it’s also being billed as a huge "block party"...kind of a marketing ploy to get people excited. The USGS has a wealth of research reports about the scenario that will be staged. See the YouTube video produced by the SCEC below: