Environment

Is 'The Big One' Really Coming to L.A.?

A controversial paper determines there’s a 99.9 percent chance that a large earthquake will strike the region in the next three years.
A teacher and students practice the drop, cover, and hold on technique during the "Great ShakeOut" earthquake drill at Marlton School in Los Angeles, California.REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

A paper authored by a JPL scientist makes a controversial, pronouncement: In the Los Angeles region, the probability of an earthquake of a 5.0 or greater magnitude occurring in the next three years is 99.9 percent.

Published last month by the American Geophysical Union’s Earth and Space Science journal, the paper examines the potential for a large earthquake along the fault lines of the 2010 La Habra earthquake, a 5.1 magnitude quake in the L.A. area.