1989 Loma Prieta earthquake significant issue, especially in the heavily damaged Marina District of San Francisco, but its effects were also seen in the East Bay, and near the shore of Monterey Bay, where a non-destructive tsunami was also observed. Due to the sports coverage of the 1989 World Series, it became the first major earthquake in the United States that was broadcast live on national television (and is sometimes referred to as the "World Series earthquake" as a result). Rush-hour traffic on the Bay Area freeways was lighter than normal because the game was about to begin, and this may have prevented a
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake its aftershocks occurred within a recognized seismic gap) but the earthquake that transpired was not what had been anticipated. The 1989 Loma Prieta event originated on an undiscovered oblique-slip reverse fault that is located adjacent to the San Andreas Fault. Since many forecasts had been presented for the region near Loma Prieta, seismologists were not taken by surprise by the October 1989 event. Between 1910 and 1989 there were 20 widely varying forecasts that were announced, with some that were highly specific, covering multiple aspects of an event, while others were less complete and vague. With a M6.5 event on