We just had about a magnitude 55
earthquake up near Plumas Count.
It was a pretty shallow earthquake and
I understand that there was shag
felt as far down in Sacramento.
So we can have earthquakes at various depths.
So some are really,
really deep and some are more shallow.
This particular one happened rey
it was very close to the surface
of the earth and so that just mt
that I feel some some of the shg
may have been a little bit stror
for people who were near near to
that earthquake at the center.
Yeah. Are you familiar with that
area at all? Is it normal for
that area to have earthquakes?
We've definitely seen earthquakf
about that size in that area be.
There was, I think it was,
I'm going to say 2013, there was about
a magnitude 5.7 up in that area.
So it's not unusual for us
to see earthquakes up there.
They they tend to not happen quite as
frequently as we see in other places,
but it was a pretty good
size earthquake up there.
So we have automatic programs tt
go in and they look at what's cg
in from our waveforms and they ,
well, we think it's about this .
Then we have human people who are on duty
who go and adjust the program, adjust it,
make it look a little bit bette.
And so sometimes that number can change a
little bit if we might update the location,
the depth and that can in turn
change the magnitude estimate.
But what we can say as far as right now we
know it seems to be about a magnitude 5.5.
Not to feel like a doomsayer he,
but, you know, will there be mo?
And should we be concerned
about those that come?
There's an always a possibility
that a larger earthquake may
happen after an earthquake, rig?
We we never know.
We never know if this is a forek
until there is another earthqua.
So I can't tell you whether
there will or will not,
but there's always a small probability
that there may be another earthe
that happens after this one.
Chances are this was it.
We might see some aftershocks
happening in the area.
So it tends to be smaller
earthquakes that that,
that's we're pretty sure about .
But again,
whether there'll be a big earthquake,
we don't know.
The great thing about an
earthquake like this is that it
can serve as a reminder that we
do live in earthquake country.
Great to be prepared.
Make sure you got your earthquake safety kit.
If you haven't already,
you can download My Shake.
I know that a number of people t
an alert from our cell phone ap,
My Shake,
which will deliver those earthqe
early warning alerts to your cell phone.
So if you haven't done that alr,
you can get prepared in that way as well.
I always love the plug, but yea,
I want to ask about the aftershocks as well.
How long is it going to be normal to?
Be seeing aftershocks happen.
Is it normal to fill one maybe like a
week afterward or is there a cen
time period where they come in?
We see those aftershocks decaying with time.
So today we probably see
some aftershocks happening,
you know especially the smaller magnitudes,
that's pretty normal and then over time
the not the frequency and the se
of those earthquakes will decre.
This wasn't a huge earthquake.
Again 5.5 that's that's
not really really big.
So we'll expect to see some smar
aftershocks I would expect in
that area for a little while and
and it'll taper off pretty quic.
Like I would imagine
and for a point of clarificatio,
when we say 5.5 is not that big, it still
felt like 100 miles away. How is sure?
Yeah, I mean absolutely 5.5, it,
I would call it a moderate earthquake.
Something like we saw again in Ridgecrest
that was a 7.3, so that that waa
significantly larger earthquake.
That's we have a logarithmic sc.
So every time you go up in numb,
it's actually a pretty significt
increase in the amount of
energy that's being released.
So 5.5, we're going to call
that a moderate earthquake.
People will definitely feel it
if you're within 100 miles,
it seems like people are definiy
feeling some shaking there,
but again, a larger earthquake.
So like what we could expect to see some.
Somewhere else, for example,
on the Hayward Fault,
we can expect to see bigger
earthquakes than that.
So I'm again going to say this
is a moderate earthquake.
Doesn't mean that it didn't
wasn't scary for sure.
It can be, you know,
startling if you're not ready for it.
But but again,
I would say this was a moderate earthquake.
Now you spoke a little bit
about the My Shake app.
Can you give me a little bit
more of a primer on it for peope
who aren't familiar with it?
What exactly is it?
Sure. So My Shake is an app than
deliver earthquake early warning alerts.
So we have the West Coast Wide e
Alert Earthquake Early Warning System.
That's what I work on.
So that system will estimate whe
the earthquake is and how big i.
And it will do it really, really fast.
So fast that we can actually get that
alert out to people with a genel
estimate of how big the earthque
is before they feel shaking.
And so that's why if you're
down in Sacramento,
but the earthquake starts.
You know, way up near it
was almost near Lassen.
The amount of time that you get
between when we send out that at
and when you feel shaking couldI
think it was up to like 30 seco.
So it's a significant amount
of time that you might get.
So you can again drop cover and hold on,
get ready for that earthquake
shaking to start.
A bit of an odd question, but you know it.
You know, we can predict when
big storms are going to come in,
when flooding is going to happe.
Oddly enough, earthquakes kind f
fall into that wildfire categor.
I know that might sound weird,
but it's when it comes to a wildfire,
it just happens.
And that's what we know where i.
That's when we know when it's happening.
And the earthquake,
it just feels the same way.
Is there any reason why we can't
get a better idea of, I guess,
predicting an earthquake?
So unfortunately,
we cannot predict when and where
the next earthquake will happen.
Like if I could, I would be really rich.
I'd be in very, very,
very high demand because everybody wants
to know like when it's the next earthquake.
And unfortunately,
it's just one of those things that as
far as we know at this point in time,
there are no consistent detectable signals
or anything that we can see that will tell
us when the next earthquake will happen.
We may see increased seismic
activity in some area,
but sometimes we don't.
So again,
it's there's nothing consistentt
we can use to predict earthquak.
And
I know everyone always asked this one,
so that's why I save it toward the end.
Everyone's always worried about the Big one.
Is this the precursor? Is Califa
due for the inevitable big one?
So unfortunately,
we can't tell when or where thet
really big earthquake will happ.
This could be a foreshock to a
larger earthquake, or it may no.
We really cannot tell.
What we do know is that again,
this can serve as a reminder toe
prepared for the next big earthquake.
Statistically speaking, yes,
the Bay Area particularly is
overdue for a large earthquake.
We know that based on historical
records of when earthquakes have
happened in the past and how
much time has elapsed since the
last big earthquake over here.
But again,
we don't know when the next one will happen.
Could be tomorrow,
could be 30 years from now.
But we do know that we do live n
earthquake country and it's gooo
be prepared for the next big on.
Angie, that wraps up all my questions,
but if there's anything else I didn't
touch on, anything else you this
important that maybe you don't get to
say very often, feel free to sat
again. I think people
should download my shake.
It's a really great way
for people to be prepared.
Because again, you see,
wouldn't it have been nice to kw
that you were about to feel sha?