Earthquake Awareness Essay

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Communication: Persuasive Essay on Earthquake Alertness October 2012 Recently, an earthquake hit Santa Clarita Valley last Sunday, October 28 with 3.9 magnitude followed by progressing 8 aftershocks. According to LA Times, the temblor hit at 8:24 a.m. Sunday, with the epicenter in the Newhall and Santa Clarita area, and the quake was felt across a wide area, including the San Fernando Valley, Antelope Valley and L.A. basin (Eight, 2012). It is referred to as the Newhall earthquake. Based on latest statistics, California and Los Angeles can have 4 earthquakes in a day, it can suffer 6 earthquakes in a week and almost a dozen in a month and these figures can potentially increase. In the occurrence of this repetitive natural disaster, the communities and the economy are affected via the decrease in tourism and endangerment of well-being with resolve in form of disaster preparedness programs by reputable institutions. At least eight aftershocks were recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey after Sunday morning's 3.9 magnitude earthquake in the Santa Clarita Valley (Eight, 2012). California's complex and interesting landscape can be attributed to the network of faulting that runs underneath the state and the earliest reported earthquake in California was felt in 1769 by the Portola expedition about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, probably near the San Andreas Fault (USGS, 2009). In this recurrent happening, there were instances not as lucky as the Newhall earthquake with no reported damages. Previous California earthquake did spare many lives and properties damaged. In 1992, three days of rioting in Los Angeles left 55 people dead (USGS, 2009). This hampers the quality of life in communities and taking a long and painful process in getting back to normal aftermath. Earthquake insurance has become a political issue in California, whose residents purchase more
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