California awaits “The Big One”
Back in the 1980s, scientists completed a ten-year survey on the earthquake risk in California; and they came up with an alarming prediction. The next "Big One", that massive earthquake that Californians know is coming, could well strike by or shortly after the year 2018. And Californians know that this prediction could be right. California often experiences earthquakes, and a "big one" is sure to hit the state again sometime soon. Larry Wood, who lives virtually on top of the "Hayward fault", knows what it is like to be in an earthquake.
California is known for its size, its sun, and its surf, its glamour and its optimism. But it is known too as "Earthquake Country" — a truly vulnerable region where big devastating quakes have occurred in the past and could happen again. It is unlikely that a disaster on the scale of recent disasters in Italy or Japan could occur in California; California has learnt from its past disasters, and most buildings are designed to withstand major quakes. Nevertheless, Californians are worried. When will the next big quake strike the state, and where will all the shaking and crumbling and rocking begin?
Nobody knows for sure, but at all times California is on the alert. The earth has been monitored with high-tech seismographs situated in universities and government research stations; they are constantly watched by highly-trained employees and volunteers from the California Office of Emergency Services; and students are given training in what to do in the event of an earthquake.
Working at Menlo Park, near Stanford University, in the middle of "Earthquake Country", scientists from the United States Geological Survey are always monitoring and studying fault systems, and trying to predict where earthquakes are going to take place next. […]
Disponível em: . Acesso em: 23 nov. 2016 (adaptado).
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