If you felt the Northridge earthquake but the shaking was not very strong, you likely were not in or near the San Fernando Valley. However, what if a Northridge-sized earthquake were to happen near you? This section of the Northridge 20 Virtual Exhibit shows 3D animations of 16 potential earthquakes, one of which may be near you and could cause much greater damage.

The animations were produced by participants in the summer 2013 Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology (UseIT) internship program administered by the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC. First, 16 hazard locations across Southern California were chosen, mostly at large population centers (see list below the map). Next, supercomputer simulations of thousands of potential earthquakes were searched to find an earthquake with a similar magnitude as the Northridge earthquake (magnitude 6.7) that is expected to cause the most intense shaking at each hazard location. Note: This is not necessarily the most likely damaging earthquake that will happen next, nor the strongest that may be experienced, for each location. Each earthquake has been selected to be the most likely “Northridge-Near-You” earthquake.

Each 3D animation shows the faults of Southern California, highlights the source fault for each potential earthquake, shows the ShakeMap of expected shaking levels, and then overlays the likely casualties and economic losses that may result.

Click on a yellow fault on the map at left (or choose from the list below the map) in order to view a video of an earthquake similar to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. After starting each video, move your cursor off the video to view the entire image (some results may be hidden by YouTube navigation and link layers).