Puente Hills fault poses bigger earthquake threat than the San Andreas
Downtown Los Angeles is seen from the Park Row Bridge in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, after an earthquake was strongly felt from the Los Angeles area all the way to San Diego. (Ryan Sun/AP)
A 4.4 magnitude earthquake in Los Angeles in August was along the Puente Hills fault system, a thrust fault that runs beneath one of the city’s oldest and most densely populated areas.
The fault’s location makes it dangerous, and it’s far more active than the better-known San Andreas fault that runs through southern California.
Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks with seismologist Lucy Jones about the risks of the Puente Hills fault and how ready LA is for a major quake.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
