In response to “Expect landslides, water shortage in the event of an earthquake” published on Feb. 1.
I would like to ask you to correct errors in your most recent article about Southern California earthquakes. The last large earthquake on the San Andreas fault in Southern California was 1857, not 1867 as stated. The average recurrence interval for large earthquakes on the San Andreas fault is actually 130 years (not 160 years as stated), based on the last eleven events (between 671 AD and 1857). The range in time between datable earthquakes varies from 52 years to 332 years.
Using these statistics, we are overdue for a large earthquake which statistically should have occurred in 1987 (not 2027 as stated in your article).
Donald B. Kowalewsky
Engineering geologist
This letter was called “Achieving equality” in the Feb. 8 edition of the newspaper.