Scientists say San Andreas fault ready for quake

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - The southern part of the San Andreas fault is "locked, loaded and ready to roll," according to Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center.

Last November 3 earthquakes in a row rattled the folks in Black Canyon City, Arizona and they were confused as to what they were experiencing.

"There're a few stores in town and I thought maybe something exploded for whatever reason, that's what it felt like, it felt more like an explosion than an earthquake," said Brian Keener.

Keener is a host at the Rock Springs Cafe and says he knows what an earthquake feels like, he lived in Hollywood during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

"The door got jarred, and I got trapped in my apartment, and I was like out on my balcony screaming, can someone help me. And the firemen came with axes and broke my door down," said Keener.

Now all eyes are on the San Andreas fault which scientists say has parts that haven't moved since 1680; that means we're due for some movement.

"So this strain is accumulating steadily and has to release, and based on what happened in the past, we've accumulated about what was released in the last earthquake," said one scientist.

Adding that even though the timing is out of our hands, people are in good hands when it comes to monitoring the fault. Scientists can issue lifesaving warnings minutes before one hits, just enough time to prevent more destruction.

"If people are in surgery or something they can get out of them, they can stop trains, so it's a bug push in all of the Pacific coast," he said.

The center released a simulation showing the shaking that Los Angeles and the surrounding area might experience in a magnitude 8.0 earthquake.

Online: www.shakeout.org