San Andreas Fault stress hits 1,000-year high, raising quake risk - Yahoo

Hear this story New research finds the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults in Southern California are more stressed now than at any time in 1,000 years, raising long-term earthquake risk for millions. Scientists describe the fault system as “critically loaded,” with stress building across multiple segments that could one day link into a single, larger earthquake. Experts say the San Andreas is a strike‑slip plate boundary, not a crack that can drop California into the ocean, and even large quakes cause sideways movement, not breakup. A rupture involving both the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults could deliver stronger, longer shaking to cities like Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and the Coachella Valley. While earthquakes cannot be predicted, California’s Earthquake Early Warning system and simple steps like Drop, Cover and Hold On can help residents prepare for future shaking. Tectonic stress along Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems has reached — and in some areas exceeded — the highest levels seen in the past 1,000 years, according to new research led by Earth scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa .