Parts of Oklahoma and Kansas now face earthquake risk on par with California

Federal map of earthquake vulnerability finds threat to seven million people in central and eastern US amid increasing oil and gas production

People in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas now face the same threat of destructive earthquakes as Californians, with human-induced tremors from oil and gas production helping spread earthquake vulnerability across much of the US.

For the first time, the US Geological Survey mapped out areas of the country vulnerable to earthquakes caused by human activity as well as natural events and found that around seven million people in the central and eastern US are at risk from ground-shaking episodes.