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Posted: 11 Mar 2015 05:48 PM PDT
 The chances of a major earthquake striking California in the next three decades have gone up, and it is more likely to hit San Francisco than Los Angeles, according to a new forecast from the US Geological Survey (USGS). Results of the third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3), published Tuesday by the USGS, show a seven percent chance of an 8.0 quake – an increase from the 4.7 percent predicted during the previous survey in 2008.The odds of a 6.7 quake, such as the one that hit Los Angeles in 1994 and San Francisco in 1989, have decreased by about 30 percent. “The new likelihoods are due to the inclusion of possible multi-fault ruptures, where earthquakes are no longer confined to separate, individual faults, but can occasionally rupture multiple faults simultaneously,” Ned Field, the lead author of the forecast and a USGS scientist, said in a statement. The UCERF study is the first to use computer models to look at interconnected fault lines throughout the state. While the 2008 forecast could only look at 6,000 possible earthquakes, the new one was able to model 250,000 possibilities. The latest calculations are based on over 300 faults. The original 1988 report was based on only 16. Data from the study reveals the 7.2 quake that hit along the border with Mexico in April 2010 triggered movement on at least six faults, including the Elsinore and San Jacinto faults that run close to the heavily populated areas surrounding Los Angeles. The data from that quake showed that tremors along a fault could jump over gaps as long as seven miles, and even reverse direction. The deadly 9.0 quake that struck Japan in 2011 “also violated previously defined fault-segment boundaries,” contributing to the deadly tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima, the study said. According to the USGS, the ‘Big One’ is far more likely to occur in the north of the state than in Los Angeles, as previously believed. Los Angeles has only a 60 percent chance of a 6.7 quake in the next 30 years, compared to a 72 percent chance for the San Francisco area. Thousands of earthquakes occur in California every year, as the state sits on a network of faults between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates. A 2006 study focusing on the San Andreas fault system found that it was past due for a major earthquake – one with at least a 7.0 magnitude. The study concluded that the southern region of the fault had not seen a massive quake in around 300 years. “We are fortunate that seismic activity in California has been relatively low over the past century,” said Tom Jordan, co-author of the UCERF study and director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. However, tectonic forces are “continually tightening the springs of the San Andreas fault system, making big quakes inevitable,” he added. Ned Field of the USGS described the San Andreas Fault as “really locked and loaded.” The US Geological Survey’s message to Californians has not changed, though. “You live in earthquake country, and you should live every day like it’s the day a Big One could hit,” Field said in an interview. Source The post California should brace for the ‘Big One’ – US Geological Survey appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.       |
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Posted: 11 Mar 2015 05:14 PM PDT
 fThe chief of police in Ferguson, Mo., has resigned in the aftermath of a searing Department of Justice (DoJ) report. The city’s embattled law enforcement agency has been scrutinized since an officer shot an unarmed black teen last summer. “It is with profound sadness that I am announcing I am stepping down from my position as chief of police ,” Tom Jackson said in a statement published first by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “My resignation will be effective March 19, 2015 to provide for an orderly transition of command. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this great city and to serve with all of you. I will continue to assist the city in any way I can in my capacity as private citizen,” Jackson wrote, according to a letter published by the paper on Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, the City of Ferguson issued a statement calling Jackson’s resignation “a mutual decision,” adding that he will receive severance pay for one year as well as health insurance. Once he officially steps down on March 19, Lt. Col. Al Eikhoff will take over as acting police chief. In a press conference, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said the severance pay amounts to “roughly $100,000,” and that the city will conduct a nationwide search for a new police chief. He said Jackson’s decision to resign was made in the best interest of the city. Asked if all the recent resignations are an admission that the Justice Department report was valid and that the problems described in it were real, Knowles reiterated that Jackson’s resignation was a mutual decision and officials have not admitted wrongdoing. Asked about the possibility that leadership of the police force would be moved beyond the city’s control – Attorney General Eric Holder recently said dismantling the agency is possible, if necessary – Knowles said city is committed to keeping the department under its control. “The City of Ferguson looks to become an example of how a community can move forward in the face of adversity,” he said, adding that he is committed to addressing the concerns laid out in the DoJ report News of Jackson’s resignation surfaced only a day after the Ferguson City Council unanimously agreed to terminate John Shaw from the position of city manager, adding yet another change-up to the St. Louis suburb in the wake of last week’s DoJ report. According to the 105-page report, federal investigators uncovered “a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct within the Ferguson Police Department that violates the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and federal statutory law.” United States Attorney General Eric Holder said he was “shocked” by the probe’s findings after its release became public, and told reporters that he would be willing to dismantle the city’s police force if necessary. In the aftermath of the report’s publication, at least one member of the Ferguson Police Department was fired and two others resigned. The DoJ report, released on Wednesday last week, was the culmination of a six-month probe spawned by the August 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager who was killed by a member of the Ferguson Police Department, Darren Wilson. “Ferguson’s police and municipal court practices have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the police department, undermining law enforcement legitimacy among African Americans in particular,” the investigation determined. Read More Here The post Ferguson police chief resigns following DOJ report appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.   |
