The San Andreas and Cascadia fault have a potentially deadlier counterpart lurking in the East Bay region of Northern California. Known as the Hayward Fault, it extends from San Pablo Bay in the north to Fremont in the south, passing through heavily populated areas including Berkeley, Oakland and Hayward.  Vestiges of the its perpetual motion are everywhere: Offset sidewalk curbs, cracking roads and homes, and even cracks in the University of California -Berkeley’s football stadium.

And scientists are warning it could trigger a earthquake any day now creating one of the ‘greatest natural disaster ever to hit the US. A magnitude 4.1 earthquake emanating from the Hayward Fault shook the San Francisco Bay Area in July last year, rattling residents but apparently not causing any harm. The fault is due to trigger another ‘major earthquake’ as it is currently at the end of its 140-year cycle, claims Tom Brocher, a research geophysicist with the USGS. READ MORE

 


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