Nepal Earthquake: Death toll reaches 4,400.
On Saturday, April 25, the devastation that comes from massive earthquakes was on front pages around the world. A 7.8 near-surface quake hit rural Nepal resulting in thousands dead. The implication is clear for us living in a dense urban area near the surface-rupture Hollywood Fault which Dr. Dolan estimates last broke conservatively (that’s the low end of the range) with magnitude 7.0.
Damaged roads are seen after an earthquake on the outskirts of Katmandu.
Damaged buildings teeter to their sides in Katmandu.
We may not have long to wait for that earthquake. According to the July, 1989 Final Supplemental EIS and Final Subsequent EIR – Los Angeles Rail Rapid Transit Project – Metro Rail:
“The Hollywood fault is considered active, and the Santa Monica fault is considered potentially active. Geologists estimate that the probability of a Richter magnitude seven earthquake associated with these faults in the next 100 years is five percent.”
http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/eirs/1989_Rail_Rapid_Transit_FinalSupplemental.pdf
As LA’s Earthquake “Czar” Dr. Lucy Jones says “It’s not a matter if, but when.”
Are Mayor Garcetti and Councilman O’Farrell chastened by these obvious facts? Apparently not, because they still support the building of the Millennium Project twin-skyscrapers directly over the 7.0 magnitude Holocene-active surface-rupture Hollywood Fault at Vine St.
Mayor Garcetti on Channel 5 News last week (http://youtu.be/jI5bEi4lVUQ) said about the Sunset-Gordon Project: “Developers have to play by the rules, too.” Where have you been, Mayor Garcetti, in the Millennium case? Millennium developers have lied and broken the rules for years, falsely claiming the closest earthquake fault was 0.4 miles away. The EIR misled the public with that claim. But now, in their latest seismic study submitted to the City on March 11, 2015, the Millennium developers admit an earthquake fault runs through their site! But now they falsely claim it is not “active.”
The trial date which was originally set for last Tuesday, April 21, 2015 was continued by Judge Chalfant to this Thursday, April 30, 2015, so that he would have more time to review the thousands of pages of evidence and the parties’ trial briefs and motions. We are grateful to Judge Chalfant for the incredible time and effort he has put into this matter involving such major safety and government accountability issues.
At a hearing on the Sunset-Gordon project last week, Judge Chalfant spoke of how he has been giving up sleep to review the massive record. It takes a massive amount of work to create a massive record. That massive amount of work from thousands of hours of attorney, paralegal and volunteer time was necessary to unravel the web of deceit and rule-breaking committed by the City and Millennium. And a massive amount of work deserves the support of a community that will benefit so greatly from it.
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