Northridge Earthquake

On January 17 1994, a devastating earthquake struck Los Angeles, California. The Northridge earthquake hit the San Fernando Valley at 4:31am and measured 6.7 on the Mercalli scale. The shaking lasted about 10-20 seconds in strong amounts, causing major structural damage, highways collapsing and gas line ruptures. The epicentre of the earthquake was near Northridge and occurred along the Oak Ridge fault, which is 70 miles long and starts from mountains above Northridge, extends past Ventura, Californa and out into the Pacific Ocean. The cause of the earthquake was the movement of one crustal rock over another (known as a slip and dip movement). Researchers believe…