Why do people seem so certain there is a huge and devastating earthquake coming to California?
geology
The San Andreas Fault, history, and geological probability?
Because we love the drama.
Because they surely deserve it.
Because God hates them for innumerable sins.
Because we are insanely jealous of them.
Because we would love to live there but can’t afford it so we are waiting for a break on the cost of real estate there.
etc.
djm
Are you kidding? Who in their right mind wants to live in a fire climax habitat? Most Californians should be committed for doing so. Look at how many of their “Happy Cows” die of heatstroke each year. They have to steal fresh water from everybody just to stay alive and they still don’t have enough. A great place to visit but the state should be depopulated except for the vintners. 
I keep looking at the temps in SF as I sweat and swelter (I hate summer).
djm
That’s an immensely vague answer.
Really? I thought it rocked!
His answer is actually concise, yet specific.
Here’s some specifics that are fairly digestible.
California has more on their plate than they should, not their fault…yes it is 
http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm
http://www.ess.washington.edu/recenteqs/latest.htm
My understanding is that a major fault line that runs under the ocean off the west coast is overdue for another slip. The plates are constantly shifting so the longer the pause between slips, the bigger the quake when one finally occurs.
There’s a fault line that runs up the coastline alongside California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia that slips (causing a big quake) on average every 300 years. It’s been more than 300 years since the last slip.
I don’t know. I ain’t too sharp at readin smart people books. Is there a Classics Illustrated version?
History, science. Just as seasons come and go, and storms spawn, earthquakes happen in certain areas of the world. The average is about once every 15 years or so for a “big” one.
from
http://www.data.scec.org/general/PhaseII.html
… analysis predicts that somewhere in southern California (not everywhere-many residents would not be affected) should experience a magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquake about seven times each century. About half of these will be on the San Andreas “system” (the San Andreas, San Jacinto, Imperial, and Elsinore Faults) and half will be on other faults. The equivalent probability in the next 30 years is 85%.
What is more curious is that other areas of the country such as St. Louis, also sometimes see earthquakes, but it is more like once every 1000 years for 7.0+ quakes. When one of those hits, it might be really bad because their buildings aren’t built to the same code as areas that get quakes every 15 years.
Do you have cause to suspect that they’re wrong?
You can’t have it both ways. Leave it at geology.
Why not? Us uneducated backwoods people that needs stuff digested orta have a funnybook version I say!
I think the world is falling to pieces, that all the giant swaths of land are slowly pushing into each other and into the ocean, and California is slowly, slowly, slowly readying itself to fall into the ocean.
That sounds like a food-supply disaster of unfathomable proportion.
Well, from what I’ve read and been told it could happen tomorrow or in ten thousand years, which are both a second in the time of the universe, so we may not have to worry about it. Who knows?
There’s also a big rock on the coast of Africa that, if it falls off, will flood the entire East Coast of North America. I saw it on the Discovery Channel.
Would it also cause flooding in Europe, South America, and Africa?