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By Joe Edwards
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Back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening, toppling buildings, closing the country’s main international airport and sending frightened residents into the streets across Caracas.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, with killing at least 164 people, injuring nearly 1,000, and trapping many under collapsed buildings.
The shaking was felt across the country, according to a quake map from USGS, with buildings evacuated and the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issuing several tsunami alerts in the wake of the earthquakes that were quickly lifted. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency, said schools would be closed for several days and identified La Guaira, on the northern coast, as among the hardest-hit areas.
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Scientists Warn Fault Stress Is at 1,000-Year High
The disaster struck after a recent study renewed attention on seismic risk far from South America.
The research, led by earth scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, found that tectonic stress along the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems in Southern California has reached the highest level in roughly 1,000 years.
According to the study, several fault segments are now at—or in some places above—their peak stress levels over that period, leaving the system in what the study’s authors described as a “critically loaded state.”
The research used a physics-based earthquake cycle model to simulate how stress has built up and been released over roughly 1,000 years along the southern San Andreas and San Jacinto systems, including the junction at Cajon Pass, northeast of Los Angeles.
The model used in the study drew on geological records including radiocarbon-dated displaced sediments and tree-ring evidence, then simulated present-day loading.
Lead author Liliane Burkhard told Newsweek that the findings “do not mean an earthquake will happen tomorrow” but that the system is “as loaded as it has ever been” in the study record.
A central focus of the study is Cajon Pass, where the San Andreas and San Jacinto systems come close together. Burkhard said the pass may act as an “earthquake gate,” sometimes stopping a rupture from crossing between faults and sometimes allowing it to continue through both in a single event. Such a linked rupture could be more damaging than a large quake on only one fault and could affect densely populated areas including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and the Coachella Valley.
The warning comes after Southern California saw a notable rise in earthquakes. The region recorded 15 seismic sequences in 2024 that included at least one magnitude 4.0 or greater quake, the highest annual total in 65 years, according to Caltech seismologist Lucy Jones as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Malibu alone had three earthquakes stronger than 4.0 over 13 months, while other moderate quakes shook areas including El Sereno, Ontario and Kern County.
In the wake of the Venezuela quakes, Spencer Pratt - who recently ran for Los Angeles mayor, and challenged the local government's response to wildfires which destroyed his home - posted on X to make a link to the possibility of disaster closer to home.
"Apocalyptic images of Venezuela...eerily reminiscent of Mexico City '85, though I fear the death toll will be substantially worse," he wrote. "Pray for these folks, and then prepare yourselves. It's only a matter of time for LA. Do you have a plan for this?"
The 'Big One'
Experts have also long warned about the “Big One,” which refers to a massive earthquake that could occur along the San Andreas Fault—one of California’s most significant and active fault lines—with scientists predicting the quake could reach 7.8 or greater, potentially causing extensive damage across Southern California or the San Francisco Bay Area, depending on where the rupture occurs.
Scientists say the exact timing of the next major quake cannot be accurately predicted, but residents should be prepared before shaking starts. Regarding her research, Burkhard said Southern California residents should “take preparedness seriously, to know evacuation routes, to have a communication plan with friends and family, to have an emergency kit with water, food and medication ready.”
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