San Andreas Fault: When the Big One Hits

thanks to dollar shave club for sponsoring this video go to dollarshaveclub.com forward slash geographics to get your starter set for just five dollars more on them in a bit [Music] in the heart of california lie is one of the world's most terrifying natural phenomena seen from above the san andreas fault looks like little more than a collection of ripples on a carpet of desert below the surface though unbelievable forces are at work sitting along this dividing line between the pacific plate and the north american plate the two sides of the fault should be slowly creeping in opposite directions instead they're stuck jammed against one another as they try to move building up more and more tension when that energy finally reaches breaking point you will get the biggest earthquake california has ever seen the bad news will happen in our lifetimes over the centuries the san andreas fault has unleashed a handful of mega quakes most recently the 7.9 magnitude monster that flattened san francisco in 1906. yet for nearly 120 years it has elaine dormant building up energy energy that will soon be released but what will happen when the big one finally hits and is there anything we could do about it the answers may be more terrifying than you can possibly imagine if they were ever to run a competition to replace california's nickname of the golden state with something a bit less smug a good contender might be the earthquake state that's because california may well be the earthquake capital of the lower 48 states in an average year southern californians alone can expect to live through some 10 000 quakes although most of these are too small to be felt the state is known to be crisscrossed by 500 active faults any of which could unleash a nightmare of shaking at any moment but the main reason california is so associated with earthquakes may be due to a single major fault line running 800 miles down all the way from above san francisco past los angeles across the mexican border and into the gulf of california the san andreas fault is infamous created by the meeting of two tectonic plates the pacific and the north american the san andreas fault has been around for 30 million years but rather than being a static thing the fault is constantly in motion imagine two very slow and very heavy trains lumbering past one another in opposite directions one of these trains the pacific plate is heading northwest the other north american plate is heading southeast the idea is they should be in constant motion ever so slowly passing one another without bumping but that's not what happens instead the trains are so weighed down with luggage and passengers in silly victorian garb that they get caught on one another and come to a stop rather than get out and separate them the engine drivers keep troubling more coal until a huge amount of energy has built up finally that energy gets to be too much and everything snaps the trains lurch forward away from one another the sudden motion shaking their carriages and making a whole bunch of dudes with monocles fall over that in a very simplified form and with added top hats is what's happening with the san andreas fault in the 30 odd million years of its existence the two plates have moved 350 miles past one another but aside from a relatively calm section in central california they've been doing it just like our trains in sudden bursts and each of these bursts means one thing and one thing only earthquake time technically this is known as a strike slip fault it's less common than other types but that's not what makes san andreas so noteworthy the reason it keeps geologists up at night can be summed up with a single worrying statistic the vast majority of californians live in the area around the fault that includes everyone in la everyone in san francisco everyone in san bernardino san jose santa barbara and oh well you get the idea in some places towns have been built directly on top of it san francisco's bay area rapid transit system actually runs a tunnel slap bang through the middle of the damn thing all this means that any quake caused by the san andreas fault has the potential to be devastating take the 1994 northridge quake caused by one of san andreas secondary faults it struck the san fernando valley a little after 4 30 a.m measuring 6.7 on the richter scale it collapsed buildings killing 57 people and causing around 20 billion dollars in damages sounds pretty bad right well just know this the northridge quake wasn't even near to being the big one it was barely a hiccup in terms of what the likely fault is capable of like the difference between getting bitten by a horse fly and being devoured by a hungry bear to get a glimpse of what it's like when the san andreas really ruptures we're gonna have to go back in time to witness one of the worst natural disasters in u.s history because california spent most of its history being only sparsely populated we have to rely on geological surveys to figure out its earthquake history the u.s geological survey agency has identified traces of a mega quake at the southern end of the fault near palm springs dating back some 300 years but it's not until the mid-18th century that we get the first written records in 1769 gaspar de portola led the first european expedition into inland california on july the 28th as they were about 30 miles southeast of modern los angeles the ground beneath their feet suddenly turned to liquid since there were no buildings around to collapse this huge quake did little more than make gaspar and his men close their eyes and wish very hard that they'd never joined this stupid expedition the same could not be said about the next one around 90 years after the fault made gasparda portola crap his pantaloons in fright san andreas unleashed another big one the fourth town earthquake is today thought to have been the most powerful in california's history estimated at an eight on the richter scale it completely tore the south of the state apart a 225 mile long gash ripped open in the earth's surface the waters of tulare lake were so sloshed about that its fish were found miles away the ground shook for several minutes straight at the san buenaventura mission the bell tower collapsed major aftershocks followed over the coming weeks as late as the following year smaller aftershocks were still being felt it was simply a monster quake but it was also one of the least dangerous in recorded history a single person was killed by falling rubble damage was slight because there was very little to damage california was simply too empty to suffer the forte on earthquake to this day remains the last big one to hit southern california but north california is another matter so let's skip ahead to the early 20th century by now the san andreas fault has been identified and named by geologist a.c lawson and people no longer blame almighty zeus every time the ground gets all shaky sadly though forewarned does not always mean forearmed at 5 13 a.m on april the 18th 1906 the pacific and north american tectonic plates gave a great jolt unleashing unimaginable seismic energy just offshore of san francisco the shock of the slip was so great people felt it as far away as oregon but it was those in the bay area who suffered the most the quake toppled buildings and crushed people but the real horrors came in the aftermath once the shaking had stopped fires broke out ripping through san francisco because the quake had destroyed the water mains there was almost nothing firefighters could do by 7 am the mayor had called in the army and given shoot to kill orders for dealing with looters by afternoon the emergency services were dynamiting entire housing blocks in a desperate attempt to create firewalls but the flames could not be controlled in the end the san francisco fire burned for five whole days over three thousand people perished more than who died on 9 11. 28 000 buildings went up in flames leaving over a quarter of a million people homeless this in a city that then had an overall population of just four hundred thousand it could have been even worse at one point twenty thousand people were pinned in by flames at the bottom of van ness avenue it was only a massive rescue operation by the navy that stopped the death toll reaching historic highs but while the worst quake from the san andreas fault hit north california it's really those in the south who should be worried prior to the 1906 quake the north hadn't seen a big one since around 1300 a.d southern california on average is hit by one every 110 to 230 years no your maths isn't wrong that means we are right now slap bang in the middle of the period when you would expect a new fortune earthquake only this time there are millions more people to worry about so given that the san andreas big one could reasonably arrive at any point between this very second and the 2080s either we or our children will almost certainly live to see it if that's the case then we should probably ask what it will look like the first thing you've got to accept is that no one knows for sure earthquake predicting is a very shaky science if you'll forgive the most obvious pun this channel has ever made and it's hard to be certain about anything the absolute nightmare scenario involves the entire san andreas fault rupturing once all 800 miles of it but even if this were to happen it might not be quite as bad as you're imagining there's a ceiling to the amount of energy that any given fault can unleash a maximum earthquake level it can hit before being all like well that's it i'm done even if the entire san andreas fault were to rupture at once that maximum is estimated to be about an 8.3 magnitude earthquake now that's still pretty damn big the quake that flattened san francisco was 7.9 because the richter scale is logarithmic a 7.9 has the barest fraction of the power of an 8.3 but it wouldn't be the biggest quake the world had ever seen or even the u.s the 1964 alaska earthquake was a staggering 9.2 magnitude down in south america chile once had an earthquake that registered a 9.5 so the big one would be massive but not record-breaking and researchers think it's very unlikely the whole fault would go off at once far more likely would be just the southern section rupturing in that case you'd probably be looking at an earthquake measuring about 7.8 nor would it generate any of the after effects you're probably expecting especially if you watched the 2015 dwayne johnson film imaginatively titled san andreas there would be no tsunamis washing away the golden gate bridge no instant collapse of the hoover dam no tremors felt on the east coast if you clicked on this video hoping to get a kick from graphic descriptions of carnage you may be feeling pretty disappointed right about now well wipe those tears away just because the actual big one won't involve large-scale cgi destruction or the rock's bulging biceps doesn't mean it'll be unworthy of its own disaster movie as far back as 2008 scientists developed a model for determining what the big one will look like they assumed the epicenter would be near the coachella valley that it would strike in the daytime and that it would register a 7.8 on the richter scale what they found was that it would unleash a wave of destruction that would exceed even 1906. by the time the ground stopped shaking everything la's residents hold dear would have been destroyed but just before we get into all of that let me tell you about today's sponsored dollar shave club dollar shave club covers all of your grooming needs shower oral care deodorants of course shaving now i don't shave my beard as you can probably see but i do shave my head and that experience has become so much easier since switching to dollar shave club and using their high quality blades dollar shave club sent me the ultimate shave starter set which has everything you need it's got the uh the preps i'm gonna put the razor down or cut myself it's got the prep scrub which you start with and then you slap on some of that shave butter and then after that you've got the post-shaped view i mentioned before i like the post soap dude because when i shave my head it gets a little bit dry and this helps it keep hydrated which is awesome you could visit dollarshapeclub.com forward slash geographics and get their ultimate shave starter set for only five dollars and why not round out your grooming routine by adding any one of their other high quality products after that the restock box ships full-size products at the regular price and let's get back to today's video just after 10 a.m one november day in the near future the southern portion of the san andreas fault lurches into life a huge section of plate shifts all at once shattering the morning peace what follows will be the worst day in california's history in the first few minutes seismic waves radiate out across the golden state striking deep into the heart of l.a buildings built before 1980 under outdated building codes collapse killing those inside them roads are damaged electricity and telephone lines are cut water pipes burst those on the streets are hit with broken glass or falling rubble others are thrown to the ground with enough force to break ribs and limbs as the ground keeps shaking for minutes on end scores of people across la are killed and collapses in vehicle crashes others are buried alive but the worst is what comes when the shaking stops before the quake is even fully over fires have broken out in every urban area near the epicenter ruptured gas lines contribute to explosions and more fires in los angeles alone several hundred fires are now blazing as recent events have shown fire can be a serious problem in california and multiple fires blazing when the emergency services only have limited access well that's a recipe for disaster over the next few hours those hundreds of smaller fires merge into several very large ones at best they burn whole sections of la to the ground at worst well at worst things get really bad if the dry santa ana winds are blowing from inland catastrophic wildfires could easily start think back to the 2008 campfire that annihilated the town of paradise killing 85. now imagine multiple campfires springing up across southern california at a time when communication networks are largely down roads are undrivable and the emergency services are already overwhelmed by the hundreds killed in the quake probably beginning to see how serious this could potentially get of course it's possible the santa ana winds won't be blowing and the fires will remain mostly contained but even in that best case scenario the aftermath is still going to be a nightmare once the main quake is over aftershocks will continue to shake the state for several days or even weeks buildings that survive the big one may become structurally unstable leading to a severe shortage of shelter at the same time access will have vanished drinking water it's estimated that by sunset on that fateful day 750 people in la alone will be trapped in ruined buildings and another 270 000 will be made homeless another 50 000 will be in dire need of emergency care care that may well not make it to them in time overall it's estimated that search and rescue will continue for 19 days after the quake strikes in that time more people will be killed by falling debris by lack of treatment for their injuries even by drinking contaminated tap water by the time things are back under control at least 2 000 los angelino's will have been killed if fires get out of control that number is going to be even higher now start factoring in all the other urban areas near the epicenter and watch that death couch shoot up without a doubt it would be the worst natural disaster in california's history for the survivors it'd be no picnic either it's estimated it could take up to a year to restore normal telecommunications electricity and drinking water one possible outcome could be a total collapse of the la economy in effect the shattered city would become a silent wasteland abandoned by those with somewhere else to go haunted by those forced to remain while the southern california region would recover it could take years for things to even get remotely back to normal so there you have it a realistic look at what the big one might actually involve sure it's no yellowstone supervolcano eruption but it'd still be pretty awful the once-in-a-lifetime disaster given that there's one thing we should probably cover in this video how to survive this earthquake apocalypse ever since talk of the san andreas big one became popular south california public radio has been running programs dedicated to surviving it we had a scout around their archive while researching this video and came to a surprising conclusion surviving could be easier than you'd expect provided you follow some basic rules rule number one do not run like seriously just don't do it while the san andreas movie might have included people legging it through shaking streets trying to actually run on liquefying ground is impossible a huge number of injuries in american earthquakes come from people trying to rush outdoors and then breaking their legs when the ground holds them off their feet oh and if you were to make it outside in an urban area that'd be a bad move every single window on the street would be shattering and spraying glass everywhere you could well be lacerated instead most agencies recommend that you just drop to the ground and stay mostly put and that qualifier mostly leads us to our next rule and that's take cover if there's something you can get under get under it that's because even a flimsy desk can shield you if the building collapses creating an air pocket in the rubble now you might have heard the common advice to take shelter in a doorway but don't do that apparently another of the most common earthquake injuries comes from people running to their doorways only to have the door come whipping into their faces better advice is just to get under an interior wall away from the windows and ride it out oh and use your hands to cover your head and neck in the big one loose stuff will be flying around your room fast enough to brain you lastly once you're under your desk make sure you remember rule number three hold on no point diving under there like a budget action hero only to be hurled back out again by the shaking so you've taken some basic steps towards survival now how can you increase your chances further one idea is to make sure you always keep bottled water under your desk if your building collapses and this is unlikely in modern california buildings but not impossible and you get trapped in an air pocket you might be there for days imagine just how crappy it would feel to survive the san andreas big one only to die of dehydration on a similar note you need to make sure that you don't run out of oxygen one of the best ways to use up all of your o2 is to start screaming instead you should bang on stuff to alert people to your presence finally the last absolute best thing you can do is get on your phone as you probably remember from the last section the power will be down all across the state which means no wi-fi what we didn't mention earlier though is that cell towers have backup power not much it's a mere four hours but that four hours could be the difference between you surviving the big one and becoming just another fatality statistic south california public radio was pretty emphatic that you should not dial 9-1-1 that's because everyone will dial 9-1-1 and you'll just spend those precious four hours on hold instead they suggested sending text messages to as many people as you can describing where you are and what injuries you have it sounds counterintuitive but it really is your best bet your friends and relatives who aren't buried alive will be able to report your location and get you found as soon as possible oh but just in case you are one of those friends who gets texted by a buried person please don't try and dig them out don't go looking for people in damaged buildings or enter any building's period that's because the aftershocks of the big one are going to be pretty damn big as well and you'll be helping no one if you get buried in a follow-up collapse so the last major piece of advice we found was not to drink any tap water with all the pipes having ruptured nasty stuff could have gotten in there like stuff that's nasty enough to kill you stick with bottled water where you can and boil it for an age and a half when you can't in the event of the big one it's estimated that tap water could remain undrinkable in southern california for over a year and a half so that's it then our entire guide to both surviving the san andreas big one and how much it's gonna suck and make no mistake suck it will if you're old enough to remember hurricane katrina just know the big one will dwarf it in terms of damage done and lasting impact but what if you're not from california you might be wondering should you even care or you might be feeling pretty smug about all of this well don't get too complacent although san andreas is the most famous fault in north america there are many many others some are smaller only capable of releasing a fraction of the energy but others others are capable of unleashing a big one equal to san andreas one is even capable of surpassing it off the coast of the pacific northwest the cascadia subduction zone has been building up potential energy for centuries when it finally ruptures it will be the big one to end all big ones tsunamis will batter the west coast washing away entire cities earthquakes will tear apart the ground all the way from canada to california it will be a big one so big it will make san andreas look like child's play and there's a 1 in 10 chance of it happening in the next 50 years and that's where we're going to be ending today not with just one horrifying glimpse of the near future but two each of which may well happen within our lifetimes it makes you think doesn't it it makes you realize just how fragile our little human world is just how easily it could all be swept away as this video ends just take a moment to think about how fortunate you are how lucky you are to live in a world before these disasters think of all the things and places around that you hold dear and count your blessings because make no mistake the big ones are coming and when they finally arrive the lives of everyone in north america will change forever so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to check out our fantastic sponsor dollar shave club and as always i'll see you next time

Channel: Geographics

Views: 1,657,585

Rating: 4.8787069 out of 5

Keywords: San Andreas, San Andreas Fault, California, Earthquakes, Natural Disasters, US Disasters, San Andreas Earthquake

Id: YGTv4XdZhko

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 01 2020