Early Earthquake Warnings

It wasn’t all that long ago that the only system for early earthquake detection just didn’t exist. The best you could do was pray that if you were in an earthquake-prone area, God would look over you and help you survive.

Times have changed. We call that science.

So now we can actually do this.

The California Legislature has sent Gov. Jerry Brown a bill that would require development of an earthquake early warning system…

Scientists are already testing a demonstration system.

Can you image the story a hundred years ago?

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, September 13, 10:39 AM

LOS ANGELES — The California Legislature has sent Gov. Hiram Johnson a bill that would require everyone to pray for an earthquake early warning system.

The bill moved forward in Thursday’s last hours of the legislative session and the governor has until Oct. 13 to act on it.

Pastors and religious leaders have been calling for such a system ever since the Great Earthquake in San Francisco in 1906. If God had simply alerted the City, the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California history could have been averted.

 

Hmmm. I wonder why that never happened? Perhaps because science and the technology it engenders had not reached this state, where we can now detect with precise instrumentation the first evidence of an earthquake, before the rolling waves hit populated areas, giving people time to protect themselves, stop medical procedures and allow transportation systems to slow down and/or stop.

God’s had a long time to provide something similar, but apparently he doesn’t think it’s very important.

And prayer only works after the fact.

Oh, wait…prayer doesn’t work at all.

 

Heck of a Job, Craig.

Sound familiar? After the debacle we remember as Katrina, Bush 2 complimented his buddy, Michael Brown, who he gave what he thought was a plum job as head of FEMA . He said, as people were dying in the flooded waters of New Orleans, or suffering through their hellish stay at the Super Dome, “Heck of a job, Brownie!”.

Sheer Devastation

At the end of my last post, a post that attempted to share facts, as opposed to beliefs, about the science of earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural catastrophes, I concluded with the exclamation “Enjoy!”. I’ve been reading about the after-effects of this horrible catastrophe, and realize that asking someone to enjoy even that kind of intellectual scrutiny was severely inappropriate, so I take it back.

Earthquakes and Tsunamis and Bears, Oh My!

It seems that when natural disaster strikes, hysteria takes over. Rumors, and mis-impressions, and ignorance and outright lies start traveling as fast as a tsunami wave across the ocean. Faster, now that we’re in the age of the internet and instant communications. The recent one in Japan is no exception.

And of course, there is the usual religious blather. I’m waiting for Pat Robertson to claim that it’s all because of teh gays.