How Well Can We Predict Earthquakes?

A string of earthquakes have been occurring in Chile and Southern California. What causes earthquakes, is a bigger one coming, and can we predict them? Annie is here to give you a rundown of the current events, and lets you know how to stay safe during a disaster.

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Earthquake
"An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves."

1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
"The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on Tuesday, October 17, 1989, at 5:04 pm local time."

A Human Trigger for the Great Quake of Sichuan?
"The first researchers have gone public with evidence that stresses from water piled behind the new Zipingpu Dam may have triggered last May's devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan Province."

Scientists Link China's Dam to Earthquake, Renewing Debate
"Scientists in China and the U.S. have published new reports examining the possibility that a giant dam may have helped to trigger last May's massive earthquake in China's Sichuan province, renewing controversy over the devastation and other dam-building projects across China's earthquake-prone western regions."

Toads can 'predict earthquakes' and seismic activity
"Common toads appear to be able to sense an impending earthquake and will flee their colony days before the seismic activity strikes."

How Earthquakes Work
"Today's scientists understand earthquakes a lot better than we did even 50 years ago, but they still can't match the quake-predicting prowess of the common toad (Bufo bufo), which can detect seismic activity days in advance of a quake."

Be Prepared: Before, During and After an Earthquake

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[Seeker]

Hey if you're hearing a weird audio issue, try updating the video quality to 720p! The video is still processing! Sorry about that!!!!

[GreatPirateSolomon]

"Badly f'ed up infastructure..."  lol

[ArtaRajabi]

The worst earthquake I've experienced was in 1990 in Iran and we weren't that close to the epicentre. The one thing that seemed so strange that night was that the stray dogs all over the city started howling like wolves an hour before the earthquake. Also there was a weird blue light not long before the earthquake which I never understood why that was. 

[TheHatterJack]

I lived through the Northridge and Loma Prieta quakes. Northridge I don't remember at all, because I was taking a nap at the time, and didn't even know it happened until a few minutes later when my mother came running into my bedroom to make sure I didn't get crushed under anything. Kind of a funny story.

The Loma Prieta quake I don't remember super clearly, because I was so young when it happened, but I do have a really vivid memory of driving over the Bay Bridge after it reopened. Every single person in the car kept saying "I hope the bridge doesn't fall out from under us like those poor bastards during the earthquake".

[ParadoxdesignsOrg]

I work with horses and the last time we had a noticeable quake here the horses were acting very very weird hours before it ever happened. 

[Javiermn]

Thanks Annie! and Kenny, good job. Really nailed those dramatizations/demos.

[archiecook]

I've personally never been in an Earthquake and I live in an area that is not very earthquake-prone, but in elementary school we had earthquake drills. They were my favorite. No loud buzzing alarms like in fire situations and all you had to do was go under the table.

[Resvrgam]

I've only experienced 3 types of quakes since living in California from 2006 to the present.

The first was when I was working on the 15th floor of an office building. I believe it was around a 5 on the Richter scale and was violent and very shaky.

The second occurred while I was sitting on my couch at home watching TV. This quake was VERY short but very forceful and abrupt. It only lasted about 5 seconds and felt like a vehicle struck the complex.

The third type was the most unsettling. It was a slow and rocking quake that lasted about twenty minutes. It wasn't violent or forceful at all. It basically felt like I was on a swing set while standing in the middle of my living room as I was arched the pictures on my walls sway with the rocking.

[LordMephistoteles]

As a venezuelan, my family and i made an earthquake protocol after living one in Puerto La Cruz around the 90s, which caused several damages all over the coast, with many dead and some destruction, so we all make sure we are prepared, by having some supplies prepared in case of emergency, all having a desk in our rooms to have some shelter (special desks which can withstand 2 tons of presure) and a rendevous point, if we are away from home, pays to be prepared when this stuff happen

[parkerdinhwilliams]

... Wow, animals (male toads) can sense Earthquakes days ahead of time???

No friggin way... Im getting a pet toad, and demand it teach me its ways.

[DragonFae]

Here is Australia the most common major disaster we get are bushfires. Every year large tracks of land burn. Since 2000, bushfires have come close to where I lived three times, once going right up to the outskirts of the town I was living in.

[IDKOKIDK]

Is there something wrong with the audio or is it just that I"m having a stroke right now, and my brain is dying

[solk.posner]

My father was in Chile when the 2010 earthquake hit. He said that when the quake finished and he got outside from a hotel in Concepcion, he was instantly mugged by a bunch of panicking people. After that he never wants to go Chile again.

[indigoway]

Quick note, last i heard, earthquake procedures changed, doorways aren't that place to be its corners, because they are the most structurally sound.

[fcbahamutzero]

As a geologist, I approve of this message.  Except the part where she said that earthquakes are caused by shifting tectonic plates.  That is just one way earthquakes are created.  

[Huevalicious]

Lived the big earthquake in Chile... was pretty crazy. Opened my bedroom door and got out of the building, if I hadn't opened my door as fast I would have been locked in there. My door never was able to close completely ever again.

[SottileGioia]

I was in the capital of Chile for the 2010 8.8 earthquake. My favorite teapot broke falling from a shelf, and that was the worst of it; that was nothing compared with people from my same city who lost everything.

[enzo]

I'm from christchurch nz and sense our 2 large quakes we had 3 years ago, we've just made it to our 1100th quake so that's some thing to be proud of

[thewanderingkiwi]

I was in a Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake. 6.0, 6km deep, 5km away. Dec 23 2011. I never want to feel another one again.

[doublextreme]

Water was 3 metres from our house in the Brisbane 2011 floods!