Long Beach is known for its beautiful coastline and charming city. Long Beach is a city south of Los Angeles that was a very productive area, with some of the most active oil fields in the world and a maritime industry (1900-1940). Unfortunately early in its history Long Beach was hit by a 6.4 magnitude quake that devastated the city. On the day of March 10th, 1933 the Newport-Inglewood fault line sprung into motion, causing the first tremors at 5:54 PM PST. The geological make-up of the area is mostly land-fill and sand, which does not create a very earthquake proof foundation for buildings. Buildings and structures collapsed; the ground convulsed while the earthquake went on, killing 120 people and causing up to $40 million dollars in damages.

Today, while we do not still see the physical effects of the 1933 Newport Earthquake, there still was a lasting legacy made by this event. This earthquake led to the development of earthquake safety regulations for schools, as one of the most significantly damaged buildings were the schools in the area. The Field Act was passed in 1933 after the earthquake, and ensured a safety standard for earthquake resistant school buildings. This earthquake proved to be devastating, and a testament to the history of geological activity in the area.

Scientists today now how a better understanding of the fault-lines in California, and can now monitor geological activity quite accurately. Today, we are now worried about the "big one" to hit the LA area; have we learned from our past? Hopefully this time around we will be ready for the next big earthquake.