NEW YORK, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A long-feared monster earthquake off the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington could cause some coastal areas to sink by more than 6 feet, dramatically heightening the risk of flooding and radically reshaping the region with little to no warning, according to a new study.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded that in an earthquake scenario with the highest level of subsidence, or land sink, the area at risk of flooding would expand by 116 square miles (about 186 km), a swath that's 2.5 times the size of San Francisco, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
Such a scenario would more than double "the flooding exposure of residents, structures and roads," and officials would need to contend with a future of "compromised roadways and bridges," as well as lifelines and infrastructure that are either more frequently flooded or permanently inundated, the study's authors wrote.
In other words, a powerful earthquake in this area would risk drastically altering shorelines and causing profound, lasting impacts to coastal populations, infrastructure, and ecosystems, according to the study.
Unlike relative sea-level rise that's driven more gradually by climate change, a rise resulting from a major earthquake "will happen within minutes, leaving no time for adaptation or mitigation," the Los Angeles Times report said. ■
