Living in An Earthquake Prone Area

We live in an earthquake prone area with the Sierra close by, but the earthquake usually has to be a magnitude 3 or higher to be felt. It's different for everyone though. Seismologists say we need to be prepared for a strong earthquake, because it's not a matter of if, but when. 

"In general we can expect when we go back historically, 10 magnitude six earthquakes every 100 years and three magnitude seven earthquakes every 100 years," says outreach seismologist Annie Kell. 

The Mount Rose area near Verdi has had a few earthquakes since Tuesday night into Wednesday. The strongest ones being around 3.0 in magnitude. This area is not immune to earthquakes by any means. 

We have a couple different kinds of faults in our area. One of them being a strike slip and the other being a normal fault. A strike slip happens when one fault slides past another, and the rubbing of the plates is rather bumpy and creates the shaking. Another kind of fault we have around here is called a normal fault and what happens is one of the plates falls down as the other plate goes up. 

Mountains, like the Sierra for example form when two plates are moving toward each other and one of the plates slips below the other one and forces the land to make a triangle or mountain. 

Some of the Pacific Northwest is still volcanic, but not in our immediate area. 

"Right now what is happening in the region where we are is we have the San Andres fault where it's pulling side to side and then Basin and Range where things are pulling a part so we do not have any subducting material that would create volcanic arc," said Kell. 

While the Sierra is not volcanic, we are in an area that is prone to earthquakes. If you do feel an earthquake feel free to let the experts know by filling out this online form.