If you have lived through a major earthquake in Southern California and found yourself turning to the news to make sense of the shaking and destruction, it’s likely that you heard from scientists at the Seismo Lab.
On Saturday, Nov. 12th, visitors flocked to Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium to celebrate the renowned lab – part of a pandemic-postponed centennial anniversary.
Among the scientists paying homage, there was Dr. Lucy Jones, founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society and beloved communicator of science.
Over the past several decades, Jones has reached out from the Seismo Lab, through televisions and radios, in the wake of major earthquakes to help sooth the frayed nerves of a frightened public.
“What happens after the event, since there is no lead up, now we’re dealing with people who were suddenly changed, are afraid because of it,” Jones said Saturday at Caltech, reflecting on the value of the lab. “And a large part of what we are doing, why journalists come to the Seismo Lab after the earthquake, is that when we give the earthquake a name, we give it a number, we give it a fault, we’re saying ‘somebody understands this.’ And that reduces the fear.”
The Seismo Lab began its life in 1921 on a mountain, north of Pasadena, where the lab could erect its instruments on bedrock, allowing for more accurate readings. The lab was later moved to a mansion on San Rafael Avenue and, in 1974, moved again to its current home on Caltech’s campus.
Throughout its long life, the lab has been at the forefront of seismological research. In the 1930s, the lab was home to physicists Charles Richter and Beno Gutenberg who together developed the eponymous Richter Scale — a major breakthrough at a time when earthquakes were primarily measured based on subjective observations of the damage they produced.
In close partnership with the USGS (located across the street from Caltech’s campus) the Seismo Lab provides the seismic data used by other organizations to study the potential risk to life and property posed by land development projects in Southern California.
Brian Olson, Engineering Geologist at the California Geological Survey, described how his organization uses data from the USGS and Seismo Lab to identify land areas at risk in the event of an earthquake, “we take the science and turn it into application with a goal towards public safety.”
Olson was one of the earthquake preparedness experts and practitioners tabling the fair. Alongside the California Geological Survey, tables were staffed by FEMA and the Red Cross among others. The tables were visited by a constant stream of event-goers, who flipped through pamphlets and peppered the experts with questions ranging from science to real estate development.
After the fair, a line formed as hundreds of people waited to enter the auditorium to attend the panel, titled “Shaking In Our Seats”, an examination of what Hollywood has gotten right and wrong when depicting earthquakes.
The panelists included Domniki Asimaki, Caltech professor of mechanical and civil engineering; Assemblymember Chris Holden, D-Pasadena; Jon O’Brien, acting chief deputy of the Los Angeles County Fire Department; Zhongwen Zhan, Caltech professor of geophysics and was moderated by Dr. Jones.
The audience laughed and applauded at cheesy and over-the-top depictions of scientists and earthquakes while the panel good-naturedly analyzed the fact and fiction in the scenes.
At one point Dr. Jones frankly asked Assemblymember Holden what the relationship should be between scientists and politicians when it comes to earthquakes. “You have to believe in the science, and you have to believe in the data…” the assemblymember replied. “Having data, having the science community be a part of that shaping of a message, I think is critical.”
Today, the Seismo Lab provides real-time data for the California Earthquake Early Warning System, which not only warns the public of an earthquake precious seconds before they feel the shake but also triggers automated safety mechanisms such as automatically opening elevator doors to ensure passengers can escape, opening fire station bays so that emergency vehicles are not trapped and shutting down gas lines before they rupture.
In this invisible way, the Seismo Lab helps mitigate disasters starting from the first tremors, one step towards reducing the uncertainty that makes earthquakes so terrifying.
“I have come to realize that the lack of predictability is one of the reasons that we are so afraid of earthquakes…” Dr. Jones said. “We are more afraid of things that you don’t know are coming, that you can’t see, that seem like they are not understood.”
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