<p>A swarm of small earthquakes located at the Salton Sea last week followed by an unusual prediction of an increased, yet short-term seismic risk by the State’s Earthquake Evaluation Council became a frontline story in the news last week. Typically, emergency planners in southern California welcome anything that gets earthquake risk some visibility because it allows a narrow window of opportunity to catch public interest as it relates to preparedness messaging. However, it can also lead to “false alarm” fatigue as well, particularly when the media over exaggerates or mis-conveys the original information shared. </p>
<p>If you saw this story over the past week then you likely heard something that was reported differently somewhere else; both of which probably strayed from the original numbers shared by the State’s experts (see below). We witnessed a similar phenomenon just a few months ago (see article dated April 22, 2016 @ http://sites.uci.edu/emergencymanagement/page/3/) when the media was suggesting parallels between a few major earthquakes taking place along what’s known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire” and our own heightened risk of a major earthquake in southern California. </p>
<p>The truth is that southern California is “earthquake country” and, therefore, our earthquake risk really doesn’t vary from a consistent “always has been – always will be” type of hazard. The risk does not come and go with notable seismic activity, new findings in the field, enhancements to earthquake technology or even with the production of Hollywood movies such as last year’s released fiction film “San Andreas.” Our hope is that the UCI community as well as other southern Californians understand this risk, take appropriate steps to prepare, and then are able to read these headlines with a “grain of salt” as opposed to riding out the next seven days of anxiety and fear until this “would be” threat has “passed.” </p>
<p>Ensure that you are practicing the top ten tips on earthquake safety by visiting: http://www.police.uci.edu/em/EarthquakeSafetyTop10.pdf </p>
<p>Also, if you are interested in reading the original prediction please visit the California Office of Emergency Services website @ http://www.oesnews.com/governors-director-emergency-services-reminds-californians-prepared-earthquakes/ </p>
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