Today in 1992
This day 18 years ago two big earthquakes hit California. These were two of the strongest earthquakes ever to hit California and they both happened in one day. The quakes hit the desert area east of Los Angeles this day in 1992.
At 4:57 in the mo
rning the city of Landers was hit by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Landers is 100 miles east of Los Angeles and densely populated. Because of the low population damage was very minor. There was still damage but there was not as much damage as there would’ve been if the earthquake had of happened in Los Angeles or another large city.
Residents of Los Angeles did experience shaking for about a minute though. The tremor was also felt in Las Vegas, Arizona, Idaho, and many other cities/states.
Just a little more than three hours later a second, weaker earthquake also hit California. The second earthquake hit in Big Bear which was not that far away from the epicenter of the first quake. The second quake had a magnitude of 6.3. This quake was weaker than the first but more deadly. It caused fires to break out and killed three people. Two died of a heart attack and the third victim was a three year old child. A chimney fell and crushed the child during the earthquake.
Between the two earthquakes 400 people were injured and there were $92 million in damages. The quakes also triggered landslides which wiped out roads and caused a 44 mile long rupture in the earth, the biggest in California since the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.
tw1p ^ 