It has long been known that despite the major advances in science and technology, scientists still could not find a way to accurately predict earthquakes.
That is why people were jolted out of their seats when NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) released a study predicting that Los Angeles has a 99.9 percent chance of experiencing an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater within the next two and a half years, various news reports said.
In an interview with CBS Los Angeles, JPL's Dr. Andrea Donnellan said the portion of the Earth's crust located in Los Angeles remain locked and may cause future earthquakes.
"There's enough energy stored to produce about a magnitude 6.1 to 6.3 earthquake" with an epicentre in La Habra, which was hit by a quake in 2014, Donnellan said.
Donnellan based her statements on a new analysis led by NASA on the effect of the magnitude-5.1 earthquake that hit Los Angeles in 2014 to the earth's crust.
The analysis revealed that this earthquake "deformed Earth's crust across a broad region encompassing the northern Los Angeles Basin and northern Orange County."
"The shallow ground movements observed from this earthquake likely reflect strain accumulated on deeper faults, which remain locked and may be capable of producing future earthquakes," the NASA JPL said in a statement posted on its website.
The research team, led by Donnellan, used GPS and NASA's airborne radar data to measure the surface deformation on the Earth's crust.
"The study builds upon more than two decades of NASA-led research to develop new methods to better measure and monitor movements of the solid Earth using satellite and airborne data and advanced computer modeling," Donnellan said.
Donnellan's team also warned that based on their study, even a moderate earthquake can further deform Los Angeles' topography, and may damage waterways.
Lisa Grant Ludwig of the University of California in Irvine, co-author of the study, said the government should use these findings for disaster planning.
The United States Geological Survey, however, is not fully sold with the NASA's findings.
"I have serious doubts that the conclusions of the paper are supported by the analysis that's presented there," Robert Graves, a USGS seismologist and Southern California coordinator for earthquake hazards, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
