Massive earthquake to strike California tomorrow?

In this what if scenario, California moves 12 feet. Are you prepared?

Tomorrow morning, a massive quake will shake California. It will initially register between 7.4 and 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale, the equivalent of a 7.2 on the Richter scale. The epicenter will be near the town of Lebec, California in the mountains north of Los Angeles. The damage will be extensive.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Tomorrow morning, just before sunrise, a massive quake will rattle millions of Southern Californians out of their beds. The quake will be caused by the sudden and terrible movement of two colossal tectonic plates that have been locked in place for over a hundred years, building up stress. Near the epicenter, the plates will move over a dozen feet relative to one another, leaving a long gash in the ground.

Millions of people will hear the quake before they feel it, as everything in their home begins to rattle. The gentle vibrations serve as a warning that the Earth's crust is cracking some distance away. After a few seconds of mild shaking, the secondary waves will hit with a powerful jolt. The shaking will intensify. This is when many people will panic, the shock of the initial shake worn off. Startled awake, some will dive under kitchen tables and beds, others will remain frozen under their covers, staring at swinging ceiling fans in panic.

On the freeways crossing Southern California, drivers will notice their cars are not driving properly. They'll assume they have flat tires, or some mechanical malfunction and take their feet off gas pedals. Within a second, they'll notice brake lights on all the cars ahead. Hundreds of thousands of drivers will slow to a stop, knowing an earthquake is underway.

For those on overpasses, the swaying will be intense and frightening. But the retrofitted passes all hold. But there will be cracks, some alarmingly large. It will take a long time to repair some of these overpasses, snarling traffic for months.

Metrolink trains stop, thankfully a new early warning system automatically prompts the trains to slow to a halt. Closer to the epicenter, in the San Fernando Valley, a freight train suffers a derailment, but it's minor.

In the closest towns, Lebec, Gorman and Castaic, damage is extensive. Several structures collapse. Store shelves are cleared of merchandise within seconds as everything spills to the floor. Power goes out from the San Fernando Valley to Bakersfield in the north. The shaking is felt as far away as Ensenada, Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and San Francisco.

As people assess damage and begin digging victims out of collapsed structures, the first aftershock hits. It's a powerful quake, nearly the same intensity as the first. The aftershocks will continue to fray nerves for weeks.

Will this really happen tomorrow? Maybe not tomorrow, as in the day after today, but it will happen soon. And when it does, experts believe as many as 2,000 people will die and tens of thousands will be injured. Property damage will exceed $200 billion. Some people will be without electricity and water for several days.

The San Andreas fault usually relieves pressure by moving about 16 feet per century.  However, the last major quakes occurred in the region in the 1990's, and the last epic quake struck in 1857. Massive quakes like the one in 1857 occur along the fault about every 150 years, on average. The region is now overdue.

The fault will move, it is now only a question of when. Seismologists are warning us to be prepared. Southern California is far overdue, which means when the next big quake strikes, it will be very powerful, very damaging, and some people will die.

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