Earthquakes

Earthquake prediction claims by non-scholarly sources (news media, blogs etc) should be viewed with caution. At best scholarly sources can only suggest per the scientific method. And geological studies are early in their development. Certainly, persons living in places like California should have plans for when something like this may happen, as some earthquakes in the state have been catastrophic. Then again, there have been many shakes in California due to the numerous small to large faults. It’s almost a daily thing, but very few are troubling.

Lately the news media reports that the Big One is coming. Well, odds favor that it is. But geologically speaking, an 8 point earthquake (or 9) may occur in Northern California in the next few minutes, or not for a thousand years or so. Who can predict when it will happen with scientific reliability and validity with today’s models and methods? Conceptually speaking, a thousand years is only a blink of time geologically.

Admittedly, living in California, I do keep a ready bag near my front door, with absolute necessities for a few days. We have many reasons with wild fires, earthquakes, and living near the Pacific, tsunamis. But I do not worry and lose sleep over it. We do live on a moving planet. Hello Pangaea.

7.8 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, followed by a 7.5 aftershock has killed over 24,000 people and counting.

Living with earthquakes has been a typical adaptation for California residents. New arrivals seem to be surprised. We have alternatives for quakes, including extra stored water, food, and a reserve battery power device for mobile phones. The last 6.4 earthquake resulted in a loss of power for several hours. Recent atmospheric rivers have also adversely impacted electricity delivery with falling trees, rock and mud slides.

California is not going to fall into the ocean. It is at the top of two tectonic plates which are sliding relatively north and south against each other. It appears that the Gulf of Baja and the peninsula was a result and continues to be. Such movements resulted in many earthquakes.

There have been a series of earthquakes lately occurring from Southern California to the north coast.

All on 16 October 2023:

4.0 near Eureka 3:31 AM

3.5 near Densmuir

3.8 near Guerneville

4.5 near Pacific Grove

3.0 near Del Rio

2.9 near Eureka 7:15 AM

We know how to rock and roll!

Now that we are at the dawning of quantum computing and generative AI, hopefully Caltech and other scholarly researchers will come up with predictive models for earthquakes and tsunamis.