Today is The Great California ShakeOut, during which millions of Californians will practice their ‘drop, cover, and hold on’ at 10:15 am in a statewide earthquake drill.
Last month in Earth Magazine, UC Berkeley’s Jenn Strauss shared her vision of the future of earthquake preparedness once we have a state-wide Earthquake Early Warning System in place. Her article describes how with several seconds of warning, she can make sure to be dropped, covered, and holding on before the shaking even begins. Beyond this, critical services and organizations will receive the warning they need to save lives and prepare for disaster recovery – fire house doors will open to prevent trucks from being stuck inside, trains will slow to prevent them from derailing, and a multitude of other responses will be available. Moore Foundation grantees at UC Berkeley, Caltech, University of Washington and USGS have worked hard over the past several years doing the important science required to make a west coast Earthquake Early Warning System a reality, and the prototype system is already being used by beta-users like BART and the City of San Francisco.
To learn more about Earthquake Early Warning, read the article here.
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