Free Republic

Big quake 'certain' in San Francisco by 2032 By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 23 April 2003 San Francisco is almost certain to suffer a severe earthquake in the next 30 years, which could uproot tens of thousands of buildings and kill hundreds of people in California's densely populated Bay Area, a detailed study by the United States Geological Survey predicts. The study, compiled by 100 geologists, disaster management experts, politicians and academics, said there was a 62 per cent chance of a devastating quake with a magnitude of 6.7 or greater on the Richter scale between now and 2032....

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The bear may be heading back to hibernation. The electronics industry is beginning to shake off its bear-market blues with a pair of assessments that suggested resurgent growth next year — two years after the industry's worst recession began. Semico Research Corp. (Phoenix), at its 2002 Forecast Workshop here this past week, repeated its call for 30 percent growth for semiconductors in 2003. And LSI Logic Corp. chairman Wilf Corrigan, in a presentation to financial analysts at the New York Stock Exchange, said the market should grow 20 percent next year. Those optimistic views came amid...