Oil Drilling May Have Caused the Deadly 1933 California Quake

Ever heard of a man-made earthquake? Studies show that one of the recent and dangerous earthquakes in the state of California may not have been caused by the dreaded San Andreas Fault.

The deadly 1933 California Quake, also known as the Long Beach Earthquake, was one of the noteworthy natural calamities in the State of Southern California. It had a magnitude of 6.4 in the Richter scale and had an intensity that caused an estimated 40 million dollars' worth of damages in property. The worst part of it all was the hundreds of lives lost due to the quake. All these time, it has been linked to the San Andreas Fault, which is one of the most active faults in the region.

However, more than half a century later, scientists have discovered that it might not be a natural calamity after all. There have been evidence linking to the oil drilling in the area. David Jackson, a professor of seismology at the University of California, Los Angeles, explained, "What they [reports] showed is that the conditions are such that the earthquakes could well have been triggered by oil pumping activity." Upon surveying the area and re-analysing documents from older quakes in the state, it has been found that the epicenters of four major quakes in the LA area alone were significantly near oil and gas drilling zones. It is also important to note that drilling could extend to a whopping 3,000 feet which could already cause momentous vibrations to nearby soil.

It has been thought that had the earthquake occurred during the school hours, the death toll might have been higher since more than 200 school buildings were either damaged or destroyed. Despite all the negative results of the quake, it is true that people do learn from the past. Because of this quake, discussions on the need for earthquake-resistant design for buildings and infrastructure in California have been put to the spotlight.