Posted By Reporter On April 11, 2011 (9:52 am) In Features, Uncategorized
Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 followed by aftershocks up 7.1 magnatude , global warming is worsening and 2012, the supposed end of the world, is just 8 months away. Is the big California earthquake next?
Although there is evidence of an impending large earthquake in California, it is not certain and is definitely not related to the end of the world or the Japan earthquake.
Junior Lesly Gonzalez said,” Could you imagine if what happened in Japan happened here?”. This question reflects the feeling of many Californians and much of the student body.
Japan was well prepared for earthquakes, although not as prepared for the tsunami, similar to California. Since the Japan earthquake, there has been a lingering fear of a decimating event of the same caliber will happen in California.
This fear was exacerbated by former U.S. Geological Survey analyst Jim Berkland’s prediction of an earthquake between ” 19th and 26th of this month[March]”. Berkland uses tidal patterns, the moon, and animal behavior to predict when earthquakes will happen with a 75% accuracy rate ,including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He said that the patterns before the San Francisco earthquake were repeating again.
Berkland’s predicted date has passed, and the “Big One” has yet to occur. Much of this may have been hysteria exaggerated by the media. De Anza college student Andy Ly said,” I heard that there was going to be an earthquake last week, then again this week, then again 2 days ago”.
This would not be the first time there was mass hysteria over the world- ending. Events such as Y2K and the recent super storm that was suppose to hit California had caused panic among some.
Even though all of the earthquake hype recently may have been caused by fear, there is still some truth in the claim that California will be hit in the near future. Scientists have predicted that big earthquakes such as those Haiti, Japan, and San Francisco occur in cycles, and that there should be one soon.
Though the earthquake may not happen tomorrow the fact that the earthquake will happen soon is probable and we should all take steps to prepare by fixing home hazards, knowing procedures, and buying or making a earthquake kit.
Learn more about preparing at:
Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.
URL to article: http://www.
URL to article: http://www.
Reflection:
This article was posted around the time when people were getting scarred that the earthquake in Japan meant the one in California was going to hit soon. Even if many took it as a joke , it was still a big issue. I could have connected it more to Japan, since it was a big issue and one of the big causes of all of the hysteria. I did not do a really good job in portraying the extent of hysteria and the problems that people were worrying over. I would definitely put more information on that aspect and more on quotes from students. This article was good people it had real facts to back up both sides of the argument, which was the point of the article. I also had put another link for how to get ready for an earthquake, which was sort of a branch or response to an article about an impending earthquake.
No comments:
Post a Comment