This morning’s Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper articles headlined Be prepared, North Idaho by Richard Dance and CASCADIA RISING by Jeff Selle used alarming words to stimulate readers’ interest in the earthquake risk to northern Idaho and in the planned June three-day earthquake exercise.
We recall our years in the Los Angeles area where earthquakes large and small occur frequently. While the area radio and television station newsreaders sometimes dive for cover under their news desk at the first rumblings of a shaker, their experienced producers calmly call Lucy.
For over 30 years Dr. Lucy Jones has been a calming and knowledgeable voice of the US Geological Survey at the Seismological Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Those of us shaken and stirred by the Northridge, Landers, and Loma Prieta earthquakes and others less notable vividly recall being able to flip on the radio to KNX 1070 News Radio and get up-to-the-minute updates on what we needed to know to get where we needed to go and get done what we needed to do. Above all, we could always count on eventually hearing Lucy’s voice, calmly explaining what had happened. And when we heard Lucy talking on the air with equally calm and reassuring KNX anchors and reporters like Harry Birrell, Tom Haule, Linda Nunez, Mike Landa, Beach Rogers, Dick Helton, and Michael Ambrosini, we always knew everthing was gonna be okay.
So when the CASCADIA RISING exercise is conducted, people in our area can thank Lucy. Her name wasn’t in this morning skewspaper reports, but her seismological research at CalTech has been a major driving force behind our nation’s and the world’s ability to be better prepared for earthquakes.
We love Lucy!
It’s not an earthquake until we hear from Lucy was a slogan but true for a lot of us, she had the ability to explain complex ideas in terms everyone could understand and had a calming effect on everyone.
I worked Northridge and Landers/ Big Bear. Northridge was only a 6.7 and the damage was unbelievable. Landers/Big Bear (actually two earthquakes) at 7.3 luckily hit an area not so densely populated.
The idea of a M9 is hard to even comprehend and a potential trigger for other faults.
People living in the Kootenai County area seem to believe they are far enough away and are safe which is a very dangerous idea not to mention all the other reasons to be prepared. The US Government and the American Red Cross both have very good web sites that can help get you organize, or just ask your friendly Mormon. http://www.ready.gov/earthquakes http://www.redcross.org/get-help
Comment by Mike Teague — February 22, 2016 @ 8:50 am
Mike,
You’re absolutely right. Being several hundred miles from the Cascadia Subduction Zone is no guarantee of immunity in Kootenai County.
In my previous life in LA two of us were tasked with establishing and maintaining the earthquake preparedness/recovery plan for our field office and its resident agencies. In talking with experts like Lucy Jones and Kate Hutton at CalTech, we learned that while many assume the big earthquakes will happen on the big systems like San Andreas, Inglewood, and New Madrid, the reality is that the big one can occur on some dinky flyspeck fault line that no one had even identified before.
There is a huge benefit to conducting regular training and exercises. Everyone involved who’s paying attention will learn something useful. I hope our County Commissioners and other officials participate seriously in CASCADIA RISING in June.
Since you worked Northridge, do you recall seeing the damage done to the Kaiser Permanente Clinic in Grenada Hills? So — how earthquake resistant do you suppose the Coeur d’Alene Resort Tower is? Or Parkside? Or McEuen Terrace? Or Kootenai Medical Center?
Comment by Bill — February 22, 2016 @ 9:11 am
Thanks for the info. Joe and I were living in the Northridge earthquake in Canoga Park,
Yes we went to our girls bedrooms side ways down the hall.
Comment by Sharon Culbreth — February 28, 2016 @ 3:18 pm
Sharon,
Since the Northridge quake epicenter was under Reseda, you were only 4 or 5 miles away. That must’ve been a wild ride.
Comment by Bill — February 28, 2016 @ 4:03 pm