Earthquakes can be far reaching and devastating events, affecting millions of people in a matter of seconds. Now a new U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model has outlined that around 40 million more Americans are expected to be affected over the next 100 years than previously estimated.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:03 Earthquakes can be far-reaching and devastating events,
00:06 affecting millions of people in a matter of seconds.
00:09 Now, a new U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model has outlined
00:12 that around 40 million more Americans are expected to be affected
00:15 over the next 100 years than previously estimated.
00:19 The hazard model points to where they believe future earthquakes will occur
00:22 and whether or not those quakes will result in damage.
00:25 The researchers looked at data from some 130,000 quakes
00:28 and corroborated that with geological records while also taking into account
00:32 500 new fault lines, finding that the estimate had gone up
00:35 for how many will be potentially impacted,
00:38 with the number of affected Americans rising to 230 million over the next century.
00:43 So where should we expect those quakes?
00:45 This map has also been released as part of the report,
00:47 showing in red the areas that will likely receive the most seismic activity.
00:51 According to the researchers, deep soil basins have the potential
00:54 to increase the wave intensity of earthquakes,
00:56 something not previously taken into account.
00:59 That is one of the reasons why the experts believe more people will likely be affected,
01:03 as those more intense waves may cause more destruction.
01:07 [music]