Earthquake conference held in the Coachella Valley
Southern Californian’s know too well about the looming threat the “big-one” poses, this as experts say the state is long over due for a major earthquake.
Some of those quake experts were in the Coachella Valley this week to discuss seismic activity.
The conference, held at the Palm Springs Hilton is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey and features experts with the Southern California Earthquake Center.
Their goal is to develop a comprehensive understanding of earthquakes in Southern California and elsewhere.
Wednesday marked the final day of the conference and topics included the importance of an early warning system and importance of tracking transportation networks.
Sarah Minson a Research Geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey says it’s important to not look at an early warning system as prediction but rather as a way to track and send people updated information during a natural disaster.
“This is really a fast version of what we use for hurricane tracking. It’s not prediction, and the game doesn’t start until the hurricane has formed but once the hurricane has formed, you watch it move and you predict where it’s going to go a little bit ahead of where it is now.”
One of the topics discussed earlier in the week was a earthquake app that will give researchers information to better narrow down earthquake activity.
“We cannot predict earthquakes with any high probability it is just not possible to do that right now,” says Tom Jordan, Director of Southern California Earthquake Center.
“However, we do have information about how seismic hazard changes with time. So sometimes its a little bit higher sometime it’s a little bit lower and this is based upon seismic activity so when we have seismic activity near a major fault we get nervous because we think there might be a higher probability for having a large earthquake,” said Jordan.
How can someone prepare for a major earthquake?
Jason Ballmann, Communications Manager Southern California Earthquake Center advises the number one thing anyone should is get water and stock up as soon as possible.
“1 gallon per person per day for up to two weeks, for one person that is 14 gallons.”
Ballmann goes on to say during an earthquake one should immediately drop to your hands and knees, take cover by placing both hands and arms behind your head and neck and if there is a sturdy table, crawl under it and hold until the shaking stops.
For more information on SCEC and the meeting head over to their website here.
