Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

How San Francisco’s next big quake could play out

Tremors in Nepal and New Zealand help scientists to predict how a magnitude-7.0 quake would affect the California city.
  1. Alexandra Witze
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The earthquake begins at 4:18 p.m. as a violent shudder, and rips along the Hayward Fault east of San Francisco, California. By the time the magnitude-7 event is over, buildings and roads throughout the region have collapsed, water pipes have shattered and fires rage. Eight hundred people are dead, tens of thousands have become homeless, and many who are still in their homes will go without running water for weeks to months.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04489-3

References

  1. Detweiler, S. T. & Wein, A. M. (eds) USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5013-A-H (2017).

  2. Roback, K. et al. Geomorphology 301, 121-138 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lienkaemper, J. J., DeLong, S. B., Domrose, C. J. & Rosa, C. M. Seismol. Res. Lett. 87, 609-619 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Potter, S. H., Becker, J. S., Johnston, D. M. & Rossiter, K. P. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduction 14, 6-14 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links