'Creeping' San Andreas Fault Could Yield Massive California Quake: Report

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An estimated 3.5 million homes could be damaged in a magnitude-8 earthquake along the San Andreas fault, according to a new report.

The estimate was based on a theoretical rupture of the San Andreas fault - which spans about 800 miles and runs through Los Angeles County to the Bay Area - in a report from data firm Core Logic, the Los Angeles Times reported.

An unlikely though potential rupture of the northern and southern sections of the San Andreas fault could occur simultaneously and cause nearly $300 billion in damages, according to The Times.

The CoreLogic report builds on new projections from scientists who previously believed that no major quakes could occur on a "creeping" section of the San Andreas fault in Monterey and San Benito counties that only generally produces small quakes of magnitude 5 or less.

Recent computer simulations, however, now show large quakes can occasionally run through parts of a "creeping" fault, according to The Times, even though scientists say such an event is a remote possibility.