Report: Losses in Hayward fault quake could exceed Katrina

Bay Area (Map, News) - Economic losses following a magnitude-6.9 earthquake on the Hayward fault could exceed those caused by Hurricane Katrina, according to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this week.

The areas of Alameda county affected by such a quake, for example, include 20 percent more businesses, 22 percent more employees and 74 percent more in payroll earnings than the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, according to the report by Richard J. Holden, San Francisco regional commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The report was published in the Monthly Labor Review and can be viewed at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/12/art2full.pdf.