10.5 and 200

Posted on May 5, 2004 in California Watch Childhood Folly Watch Global Warming

No, I haven’t watched it. I won’t watch it because California is not going to drop into the sea as people have been hoping since 1969 when the first prophets predicted that this would happen.

When I was growing up, a couple of psychics predicted that California was going to go plop-plop-plop, splitting neatly along the San Andreas Fault. I remember feeling afraid. Which side of the fault were we on? Oh dear, the ocean side. I wondered if I should have worked harder at learning how to swim.

The psychics predicted a specific time and date for the quake. We watched the clock. I turned on the radio. A DJ came on, scoffing at the whole idea and then earthquake noises came over the AM. Screaming, sounds of breaking glass and falling equipment. I screamed — not because I believed it was happening — but for the first time in my life, the absurdity of psychics struck me. Thereafter, I noticed that their predictions became more vague. “There’s going to be an earthquake in California this year, over 5.0.” Those happened several times a year in Hollister, California where grocery stores ran wires across the fronts of the canned food aisles, so it was a safe bet.

Then came Hal Lindsey who despite the fact that his every prophecy of Armagaedon has failed to materialize, continues to maintain his status as a seer. Prophets of his kind keep saying “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”, but the actor never shows up on cue.

Geologists tell us that it’s just impossible for the whole big chunk that is California’s most populated area to slide into the sea. We’re not perched on a cliff here. We just have earthquakes. In a 10.5, you might see some land sliding about and universal damage, but Los Angeles fall entirely into the sea? Give me a break!

What’s more likely is for the ocean to rise 200 feet. Sitting here at a comfortable 1000 feet above sea level, I can walk a couple of blocks and look out towards the ocean. Beneath me I see office towers in Irvine that could one day become offshore fishing platforms, hills that could turn into islands. Florida and much of the eastern seaboard is going to have it much worse. That’s the fate of the earth, folks, what with global climate change and all the noxious fossil fuels we keep pumping out.

Still, this fanciful idea of California falling into the sea trumps the public interest over the reality of the flooding of our lowlands all over the world. What I want to know is this: why are people so desperate to off us Californians? Why do they hate us so much that they want us all dead?

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• Marie
• Alex Steffens wrote about terriblisma last autumn.
• General USGS Earthquake Information for Southern California
• A legitimate scientific earthquake prediction
• Cool book (free) about what we do to live with quakes out here
• If you felt an earthquake, tell the USGS about it!