I know I promised that "I plan on posting the update to the Democratic candidates at On The Issues I promised in Senators and Representatives running for the Democratic nomination are drifting to the left as they campaign [today]" at the conclusion of Wired on dead malls, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, but that's not happening. While I'm working on it, it needs more time and energy than I have today.* Besides, I just saw another shiny object that matches my interests, science, particularly geology, disasters, and my old home state of California. CBS News reports in California officials assessing damage after powerful earthquake.
Seismologists are warning that large aftershocks could continue in Southern California for days after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the area. CBS Los Angeles reporter Joy Benedict joined CBSN with the latest.Reena Nina of CBS News continued her coverage of the disaster in Southern California reeling after another earthquake strikes.
A massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California on Friday night. It is the second earthquake to rattle the area in the past two days. Dr. Wendy Bohon, a geologist for the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, joined CBSN with more.I may have moved out of California 30 years ago, but this story still hits home for me. It's also one that I can tell my geology students, adding to my earthquake war stories that I've included in my lectures over the year.
The best think I can say about this series of earthquakes is the same one I mentioned in Magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Anchorage, Alaska; there seem to be no fatalities. Considering that the slightly smaller earthquakes I recount to my students have killed people, sometimes more than 60 of them, that's very fortunately. It seems the same is true of these quakes, as CBS Los Angeles reported in Ridgecrest Police Chief: No Fatalities, Casualties From Quake 'By The Grace Of God'.
Police Chief Jed McLaughlin said so far there were no injuries or deaths from the Ridgecrest quake.May it stay that way.
*Right now, I have it scheduled for Monday. Stay tuned.
During the three years I lived in San Francisco (Feb. 2003- Dec. 2005) the only noticeable earthquake happened while I was riding on the lift (elevator) at the hospital where I worked. It just felt like a jiggly ride, but when I got to my floor, everyone was all "Did you feel that?"
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, in geographically stable Australia (especially here in the south, far from the Indonesian end of the Ring of Fire) I DID feel one, in 2009, again while at work in a hospital here. Not big enough to break anything, but definitely some vibrations in the floor. A few of the patients heard it, too, because their hearing was more sensitive than mine to the ultra-low-frequency sound of the shaker.
Have you read about the problems with the Millennium Tower in S.F., a relatively modern 58-storey building that's tilting? A temblor like what SoCal had might cause the thing to fall over. When I passed through S.F. last year, I was amazed and horrified by an even newer skyscraper, the Salesforce Building, which is massively out of proportion to its surroundings, like the huge edifice in the original "Blade Runner." It's so prominent it looks other-worldly. Supposedly it's built on stronger foundations, though.
You were lucky you weren't there in 1989, when the Loma Prieta (World Series) Earthquake struck. That was harrowing just watching it on TV!
DeleteThere have been earthquakes here in Michigan since I moved here as well. I seem not to have felt them, although I ended up writing a blog post about one. The Great Lakes State is also in a supposedly stable part of the continent, but there are old faults that have been reactivated, probably by glacial rebound.
No, I hadn't heard about the issues with the Millennium Tower or the Salesforce Building. Thanks for sharing!