Originally Posted by christian370z

The West coast is LONG over due for a major earthquake. Think of the San Andreas fault as two saws with the teeth interlocking. This means that immense forces can build up along the fault as each plate is still being moved in different directions. The reason why this type of fault is particularly dangerous is because once a critical point is reached, all those teeth break and the plates just shear as the energy is released. This has been a risk for decades, not really new news.