The San Gabriel Canyon Earthquake*
- Date: February 19, 2002
- Time: 7:43 PM
- Magnitude: 8.3
At 7:43 PM, a massive earthquake rocked the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles with an epicenter in the lower area of the San Gabriel Canyon located in the city of Azuza. It was felt as far away as Long Beach. Reports estimate damages as high as $135 billion.
The earthquake also caused four dams in the area to fail, resulting in a large portion of the casualties.
Approximately 3 minutes following the quake, the San Gabriel Dam failed taking with it, its downstream neighbor, the Morris Dam. The millions of gallons of water crashed down into the suburbs in a horrific 3 1/2 hour, 1.5 mile wide path of destuction. The already weak flood control channels of the Santa Fe, and Whittier Narrows were washed away by the rampaging water. As of now, portions of El Monte, Baldwin Park, Azuza and many other cities have been completely obliverated as well as the entire 605 Freeway, and parts of the 405, 10 and 210, the body count is still rising.
The day after the disaster, a fifth dam failed at 10:45 AM, shortly before engineers were to examine it, the earthen dam at the Puddingstone Reservoir took its 16,342 acre-ft of water down Walnut Creek and destroying several homes and stores, and washing away most of the Pacific-Coast Bible College located next to Walnut Creek Park, before emptying into the San Gabriel. Thankfuly, areas that were deemed hazardous were evacuated shortly prior to the collapse.
Earlier in the day the the First Interstate World Center and Los Angeles City Hall were found to have sustained major structural damage and were closed as were most of the high-rises of downtown, Mayor Jim Hahn has requested massive financial and emergency aid. President Bush has declared the area a disaster site.
* This is the worst-case scenario that I could think of if the Big One hit Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley. Even if there have been any faults detected in the canyon, it still could strike there. After all, the Northridge Quake in '94 was from an unknown fault. Subsequently, if you live in the Hollywood area, you have the Hollywood Reservoir and the collapse of the Mulholland Dam to worry about...