Word: coalinga
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Surprisingly, the hazards of thrust faults were largely overlooked until 1983, when a fierce temblor hit the small central California town of Coalinga. The culprit turned out to be a deeply buried fault (four to 10 miles down) that no one had known about. Its only sign on the surface had been a fold, or buckling, in the earth's crust. Many scientists had thought such folds were harmless, formed by an imperceptibly gradual lifting of the ground. But when Ross Stein, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and geologist Robert Yeats of Oregon State University examined the seismic...
While the 20 seconds of intensive shaking, which registered 6.5 on the Richter scale, was far short of the blockbuster so long predicted for California, the temblor turned peaceful Coalinga into a smoldering ruin. Said John Bunker, 70, owner of a downtown stationery store: "It was like a bomb dropped." At least 47 people were injured, 300 buildings were demolished, and property damage exceeded $30 million. Yet miraculously, there were no immediate deaths...
...quake's epicenter was about seven miles northeast of Coalinga, some 20 miles from California's San Andreas Fault. Said State Geologist James F. Davis: "We don't believe that the stress regime is related to the San Andreas." Loose translation: the Coalinga quake did nothing to relieve the slow buildup of forces along the fault that virtually all scientists believe will eventually result in a major quake (8 or higher on the Richter scale...
Even so, the temblor was a vivid reminder of the terrible forces locked inside the earth. Much of the destruction came from fires, ignited by short-circuited wires and fueled by broken gas mains. Electric power was cut, the water supply was contaminated. For hours, Coalinga's people were largely isolated from the world because of severed telephone lines...
...going to give up. We don't need a low-interest Government loan." Surveying the remains of a turn-of-the-century mansion he had carefully restored, Jack McCormack, 52, sighed: "I got $90,000 sitting on the ground." But Mayor Keith Scrivner refused to count Coalinga out. Said he: "We will rebuild...