EARTHQUAKES IN DIVERS PLACES: Earthquake strikes US: California, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska hit in quick succession
LATEST QUAKE UPDATE VIDEOS WITHIN
LATEST QUAKE UPDATE VIDEOS WITHIN
A STRING of powerful earthquakes have rocked the west and central US with several of them hitting near to the dreaded RING OF FIRE.
The strongest of the earthquakes, and also the most recent, came in Perry, Oklahoma, when a 4.3 magnitude tremor hit the central US state.
However, there have been no reports of damage to buildings in the area.
People took to social media to share their experience, with one writing: “Another earthquake in Oklahoma, shaking us awake just now!”
She wrote: “All these little earthquakes just leading up to the big earthquake soon that destroys us”.
Since midnight, there have also been earthquakes in Alaska, Nebraska, Texas and three in California.
Both California and Alaska sit on the deadly Ring of Fire – the largest and most active fault line in the world, stretching from New Zealand, all around the east coast of Asia, over to Canada and the USA and all the way down to the southern tip of South America – which causes more than 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes.
This has also caused many earthquakes over the years, including the recent 5.3 magnitude tremor striking just off the Pacific coast on April 6, rattling Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
Researchers believe that the San Andreas fault is overdue the ‘Big One’ – a potentially catastrophic earthquake which could cause widespread destruction in the southwest of the US.
Last year, Robert Graves, a research geophysicist at the USGS, said that the Big One could be overdue by 10 years.
"Studies that have dated previous major offsets along the fault trace show that there have been about 10 major quakes over the past 1,000-2,000 years.
"The average time between these quakes is about 100-150 years.”
He said: “A 5.3 could be damaging if it was right under our feet.
“It's right on the edge of being an earthquake that could be dangerous.It's a reminder that we need to be ready in the future.”