California is extremely prone to earthquakes, with several fault lines running beneath the Golden State. Some of these active fault lines are the Hayward fault, Newport – Inglewood and San Jacinto faults, and perhaps most famous of all, the San Andreas fault. But new research carried out by universities in California found a major earthquake could pose a significant risk to life because of outdated buildings.
An independent study carried out by the University of California (UC) has found that there are 68 seismically deficient structures at UC Berkeley and 18 at UCLA.
No buildings were deemed too “dangerous”, which is the worst category in seismically deficient buildings, but six in Berkley and three at UCLA posed a “severe” risk to life.
The rest of the buildings fell into the “serious” category.
With 45,000 students at UCLA and 42,000 students at Berkley, a major earthquake could be catastrophic.
Filip Filippou, a UC Berkeley professor of structural engineering and chair of the campus seismic review committee from 2001 to 2017, told the LA Times: “I don’t think the campus can afford not to do anything. It could be lethal for the survival of the campus.”
Though the review was carried out under the UC’s own initiative, and its buildings do adhere to Californian regulations, the University will upgrade its structures.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ wrote in an open letter to the campus: “To be clear, the university was not required by law to launch this new assessment and remediation effort.
“All of Berkeley’s buildings were designed and constructed in adherence to the codes in effect at the time of their construction.
READ MORE: US officials release simulation of a mega-tsunami striking coast
“In fact, there are few, if any, parallel efforts in the private sector — it is unlikely that the office buildings, shopping centres and other places you visit will be subject to the sort of seismic review the UC is conducting, much less the ensuing remediation to which we are committed.
“Under current California law, cities and counties are not even required to have an inventory of potentially vulnerable buildings, meaning, in particular, those built before the 1976 implementation of what is considered to be California’s first modern seismic building code.
“However, our university is home to some of the world’s leading seismic experts, and we are an institution dedicated to following the dictates of scientific discoveries.
“We cannot alter the fact that a majority of the buildings across the UC system were built before 1976 and are, therefore, at the very least, potential candidates for seismic upgrades.
DON’T MISS
California earthquake: Scientists closer to predicting the Big One [STUDY]
California mega storm warning: The MAJOR risk threatening California [ANALYSIS]
California Big One: Would California earthquake cause a tsunami? [INSIGHT]
“What we can do is to spare no effort to make our campus as safe as possible, and as quickly as possible, and we are doing exactly that.”
Another reason why California is so earthquake-prone is that it sits upon the dreaded Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire is the largest and most active fault line in the world, stretching from New Zealand, around the east coast of Asia, over to Canada and the USA and all the way down to the southern tip of South America and causes more than 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes.
The plates which make up the Ring of Fire are so huge even the slightest shift results in massive tremors, volcano activity and tsunamis.