Northridge Earthquake sidebar 2, Las Vegas Sun, Jan. 16, 1997

Low odds of Big One happening in Vegas Lisa Ferguson Thursday, Jan. 16, 1997 | 5:24 a.m. What are the odds that an earthquake packing the wallop of the 6.8-magnitude Northridge temblor will ever strike Las Vegas? Slim, according to John Louie, an associate professor of seismology with the Mackay School of Mines' seismology laboratory at University of Nevada, Reno. "Relatively, (the area) is a lot less earthquake prone" than Southern California and even western and Northern Nevada. "In Las Vegas, you would only have maybe 1 percent of the earthquakes that you would have in Los Angeles. In Reno, we have them about one-tenth as often," Louie explains. Actually, the biggest threat to Southern Nevada is posed by faults in the Death Valley area, about 70 miles away. "It could have an earthquake on it up to a magnitude 7.5, and that would have some effects (damage-wise) on Las Vegas," he says. Still, the potential for tremors centered in Vegas does exist. It's believed that fault lines run throughout the city, including the Frenchman fault, located near Sunrise Mountain. Need proof? Take a good look at the mountain, Louie says. "It's steep and it's reasonably long, so clearly something has lifted the mountain up over the valley." Just how long ago, no one's sure. Several projects researching the history and potential of faults around the state are under way at UNR. "Nevada has more mountain ranges than any other state," Louie explains. "It's a fact that every single mountain range has a fault on one side of it, maybe even both sides of it. At the same time, most of these faults are not active." Until recently, studying Las Vegas' quake probability hasn't been a priority, Louie says. "Let's face it, it's not as immediately dangerous as it is in California or Reno. "The way we think about Las Vegas is that the hazard is low. Earthquakes are not all that likely, but they are going to happen eventually. If one were to happen, the (results) could be bad." The largest quake ever recorded in Southern Nevada was a magnitude 5.5 that occurred on June 29, 1992 at Little Skull Mountain, located on the southern end of the Nevada Test Site between Mercury and Lathrop Wells. "We think it was actually triggered by the Launders (Calif.) quake" that struck the day before and measured 7.2 on the Richter scale. "Before that happened, we didn't think it was possible," he says. The statistical chance of those happening one right after another was so miniscule. It was really a surprise." One Louie says Southern Nevadans should anticipate, just to be on the safe side. "I like to tell people that earthquakes are possible in Las Vegas, and it may be worth taking some preparations." archive