Geological survey creates California earthquake disaster scenario.

The AP (5/22, Chang) reports that "about 300 scientists, governments, first responders and industries worked for more than a year to create a realistic [earthquake] crisis scenario that can be used for preparedness." To be released Thursday, the report is "[p]ublished by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and California Geological Survey." Earthquake scientists projected, in the scenario, that the "Big One" would rip "California's mighty San Andreas Fault north of the Mexican border," and "[i]n less than two minutes, Los Angeles and its sprawling suburbs" would be rocked by a "7.8-magnitude temblor." The crisis scenario depicted hospitals that were "swamped with 50,000 injured" and 1,800 dead. However, "[o]nly about 700 of those people" were "victims of building collapses. Many others" were victims of fires spreading "across the region." The scientists "chose the parameters of the fictional temblor such as its size and length of rupture and ran computer models to simulate ground movement. Engineers calculated the effects of shaking on...infrastructure," while "[r]isk analysts used the data to estimate casualties and damages."