If the San Andreas fault has a big one, will people within a couple miles of the fault line die instantly?

no.

But LA would probably get wiped out since I'm sure their building code is crap.

San Fran had a major 6.9 EQ in 1989 you might recall.

And it was caused by the San Andreas FL,....so...

It was pretty bad and many people DID die "instantly" when smooshed in their cards by pancaking freeway ramps falling on them....but other than that....not so many 'instant' deaths.


6.9 is pretty big in and of itself....no 8.8/8.9 whatever but still no minor deal either....

-V-

Spoken like truly ignorant dumbass.

It is a fact that someday the earth will split on Andreas fault line and drop in the ocean. You better hope not.sleep tight.

I certainly hope so. There needs to be some sort of punishment for living in California.

Whether people die generally depends on where they are at the time it hits. Outdoors if you are away from falling buildings is the safest place to be. While the earth bumping around may knock you over, you could just lay there until it stops and then get up - in perfect safety. Unless debris falls on you, or you happen to be where some huge fissure opens and swallows up a 40' wide strip of land that you happen to be standing on. Not likely, but remotely possible.

Most people in LA would be inside at the time a quake hit. Whether they're at home or at work may well define who survives and who does not. Houses can ride out quakes better than commercial buildings can (unless they were built in the last few years to the newest building codes which can probably survive an 9.0 quake. (That's what they're designed to do, supposedly.)

I would not want to be in some of the circa 1940's high rises in downtown LA. There are some 1950's high rises on Wilshire in Beverly HIlls, and a few more going out to Westwood (condos out there of course) and frankly unless they've had major seismic upgrading, they're going to go down in a big quake.

I've ridden out three quakes in LA, including Northridge. I don't live there any longer - I got temped by cheap housing in Phoenix when the economy went south and bought a house in Scottsdale, on acreage for less money than my condo in LA sold for. Quite a bit less actually. So now I bitch about my AC bills all summer long (they've hit $1000 per month last summer and heading for more this year) but I don't worry about quakes hitting Phoenix - at least not yet. Anyones guess what New Madrid will do to the US West when and if it blows. And if Yellowstone goes off again, then who knows? Can't be 100% save anywher, sadly.

I live less than 2 miles from this fault

Ive felt so many earthquakes its not funny

LOL spoken like a true brainwashed liberal who think there isn't any slacker or corrupt people in the LA government.

How would an earthquake kill somebody instantly? What kills people is falling debris not the earth shaking.