Web-based Earthquake Forecasts for California

gollum123 writes "People in California can now check earthquake forecasts on the Web just like the weather. The Web site, maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey, is updated hourly and calculates the probability of strong ground shaking at specific locations over a 24-hour period. The program is not meant to predict when the 'Big One' will occur, nor serve as a warning signal for residents to evacuate. Details appear in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature."

Comments

What do you do with the information?

[RatPh!nk]

This is much like an asteroid warning system. So lets say there is a warning for a large earthquake. Do you stay home? Leave you house? Skip school/work? Don't get me wrong, I think the tech is great. I like the page. The article says the purpose is to help people know when to be prepared for a quake. But, this is an interesing page on the site. It says the primary purpose of the site is for education, though until I read that that was not the impression I was under from the report.

The primary use of this map is educational. Watching the fluctuations in the probabilities will help you understand the nature of earthquake clustering and how the patterns change with time

I think the story needs a new focusm or it is going to be misunderstood by the public