California isn't the USA's only earthquake hot-zone anymore.
7 million people in the central and eastern U.S. live where damaging man-made earthquakes are likely to occur, according to a first-of-its-kind report released Monday by federal scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas are the most at-risk states from man-made quakes, according to the report.
The chance of damage from earthquakes in some of these states equals that of natural earthquakes in high-hazard areas of California.
“By including human-induced events, our assessment of earthquake hazards has significantly increased in parts of the U.S.,” said Mark Petersen, head of the U.S.G.S. National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project.
Earthquakes can be triggered by human activities, with wastewater disposal from the fracking process being the primary cause for recent events in many areas, the U.S.G.S. report said.