FEARS surrounding the “inevitable” Big One – a catastrophic earthquake in California that will cause unprecedented damage and possibly trigger a tsunami – has prompted US officials to step in and begin evacuation drills.
US officials have started to hold eerie evacuation drills to ensure that Americans are prepared for the “inevitable” Big One.
The Big One is a term used to the describe the impending earthquake along the San Andreas faultline in California, which is expected to cause widespread devastation.
Experts including seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones believe that this earthquake event will also trigger a powerful tsunami.
This week, officials in Arizona held training drills to prepare the state for an event where half a million evacuated residents arrive from California when the Big One strikes.
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According to a report on CBS, hundreds of agencies worked together during the drills to spot any “potential problems” in the disaster response plans.
Dr Jones believes the Big One will disrupt the water system across states, which could take “up to six months” to fix.
Earlier this month, a light earthquake struck Southern California in the middle of the night but there were no reports of damage.
The magnitude 4.5 quake originated beneath the San Bernardino Mountains about 100 miles from Los Angeles and San Diego.
Colin Williams of the American Red Cross said: “If this was a full-scale emergency the hotels would be full, areas would be saturated, the roads would of course be in a different condition. They would be gridlocked.”
Kerry Reeve, area emergency manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Emergency Management, added: “We have to train firefighters to operate on an aircraft, to be able to move the patients efficiently and effectively off the aircraft so that everybody stays safe.”
The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs said the National Mass Care Exercise has been planned for nearly a year.
Mr William added: “The more we get to meet people and practice and exercise with people in blue sky times helps us when we’re in gray sky times.
“Fortunately, we don’t see these happen, but if we do, we’re all ready.”
A study, led by scientists at the University of Texas last year, predicted that the big earthquakewill most likely to strike off the coast of Washington and northern Oregon.
The researchers revealed that the volatile Cascadia Subduction Zone generates a major event every 200 to 530 years – and last experienced an earthquake in the 1700s
According to Shuoshuo Han, who led the study, this earthquake would rupture over a long distance and increase both earthquake and tsunami hazards.
