What happens if a major quake hits Tahoe?
By Alexa Renee, KXTV
If a major earthquake affected the region, would you be prepared?
Most people wouldn’t be ready, according to Graham Kent, who is the director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory– as well as a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at UNR.
At least 120 people were killed and dozens are missing or feared dead Wednesday after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck several towns in central Italy, according to Italy’s civil protection agency. The mayor of one the hardest-hit town, Amatrice, told RAI-TV that he had trouble communicating with emergency responders and couldn’t reach the hospitals.
Could a similar scenario happen in our area?
Kent maps earthquake faults under Lake Tahoe. The actual fault beneath the lake is a lot bigger than the fault that led to the recent Italy earthquake, Kent said.
“Lake Tahoe has been formed by 500 to 1,000 earthquakes over a few million years,” Kent stated. “With every earthquake, the lake gets deeper every time.”
