How To Get Ready For Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Floods, and Earthquakes
Popular Science|Winter 2018

Seismologist Lucy Jones is on a crusade to prepare us—and our infrastructure—for the next Big One.

- Mary Beth Griggs
How To Get Ready For Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Floods, and Earthquakes

On a sweltering day in Pasadena, California, geologist Lucy Jones stands above a steep, dry river bed overlooking Los Angeles County. To the southwest, LA sprawls out to the HollywoodHills. Jones, whose demeanor is as sunny as the sky, sees an abundance of disaster.

“Here’s your Southern California issue,” she says, pacing the trailhead that leads to a quarry below. “You’ve got earthquakes that push up the mountains. That traps the rain, but then erosion brings [the mountains] back down.” In other words, the quakes build them up and the rains wash them away. Jones points to what looks like a healthy bush in the ravine. It’s actually a willow tree, nearly up to its leafy crown in 6 feet of dirt.Rubble and soil slid there after a 2009 wildfire burned 160,000 acres, destroyed more than 200 buildings, displaced more than 10,000 people, and denuded these slopes. With nothing to hold back the earth, storms sent slurries of rock and mud downhill, further ravaging the landscape.

Fires, earthquakes, and landslides are interconnected forces that shape this topography. They are as intertwined as the web of geological faults that lie beneath LA County. The biggest of those, the San Andreas, is never far from Jones’ mind. No one knows when it will move, but this tectonic boundary one day will—and shake all of Southern California to its foundation. Experts predict it will kill 1,800 people; rupture 966 roads, 21 railroads, and 32 aqueducts; down 141 power lines; damage 300,000 buildings; and leave millions of survivors cut off from critical resources.

この蚘事は Popular Science の Winter 2018 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Popular Science の Winter 2018 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

POPULAR SCIENCEのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
Popular Science

They Might Be Giants

A photographer-and-ecologist team are on a mission to document the forests’ mightiest members.

time-read
3 分  |
Winter 2020
Popular Science

Droplet Stoppers

Covid-19 made face masks a crucial part of every outfit, and we’re likely to don them in the future when we feel ill. Fortunately, there’s a style for every need.

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2020
Popular Science

Landing a Lifeline

For those whose livelihood depends on the ocean, a covid-spurred interruption in the seafood market might speed progress toward a more sustainable future—for them and for fish.

time-read
10+ 分  |
Winter 2020
Headtrip – Your brain on video chat
Popular Science

Headtrip – Your brain on video chat

Dating, Catching up with family, and going to happy hour are best in person.

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2020
Behind The Cover
Popular Science

Behind The Cover

Butterflies may seem delicate, but they are surprisingly tough.

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2020
Tales From the Field – A cold one on mars
Popular Science

Tales From the Field – A cold one on mars

Kellie Gerardi, bioastronautics researcher at the International Institute for Austronautical Science

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2020
Popular Science

The Needs Of The Few

Designing with the marginalized in mind can improve all of out lives.

time-read
6 分  |
Winter 2020
Popular Science

Life On The Line

On the Western edge of Borneo, a novel conservation-minded health-care model could provide the world with a blueprint to stop next pandemic before it starts.

time-read
10+ 分  |
Winter 2020
waste watchers
Popular Science

waste watchers

YOU CAN TURN FOOD SCRAPS INTO FERTILIZER IN ALMOST ANY CONTAINER. THESE BINS USE THEIR OWN METHODS TO ENCOURAGE THE PROCESS, BUT BOTH KEEP BUGS AND STINK AT BAY.

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2020
why can't i forget how to ride a bike?
Popular Science

why can't i forget how to ride a bike?

LEARNING TO PEDAL IS NO EASY FEAT.

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2020