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California Publishes EQ Zapp, Online Earthquake Hazard Zone Map

The California Geological Survey has published a new online map, titled the EQ Zapp, so that users can quickly determine the earthquake hazards they face in their respective areas.


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While similar maps were created years ago at the behest of state lawmakers, those maps were often large, confusing and sometimes difficult to understand.

The new maps mean residents can evaluate their earthquake risks simply by typing in their address or sharing their location with their smartphone.

“We’ve created the Earthquake Hazard Zone web application as a public service because home-buyers now are often well into the real estate transaction before they learn that the property falls within a hazard zone,” said Dr. John Parrish, the State Geologist of California and head of CGS.

The CGS defines earthquake hazard zones as areas with high likelihood of any of three different kinds of ground failures: landslides, liquefaction and fault rupture.

Landslides occur on steep hills when an earthquake causes earth to slide down.

Liquefaction is the process by which earthquakes cause soil to temporarily turn into quicksand, compromising the ground’s ability to support structures.

Fault ruptures are breaks in the earth along a fault, sometimes creating large gaps, and often damaging the stability of structures overhead.

“We really tried to make the earthquake zones understandable through this web application — in particular, the frequently asked questions section explains a lot about how the hazard zones work,” said Tim McCrink, the head of the CGS Seismic Hazards Program. 

EQ Zapp is free to download and also comes in a desktop version, which readers can access here.

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California Publishes EQ Zapp, Online Earthquake Hazard Zone Map

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