The Southern California Earthquake Center was informing the residents of Eastern Riverside County about earthquake safety at Fiesta Campesina, an annual health fair that happened on September 26.

The area is in a very seismically active region, and it is where a big earthquake on the San Andreas fault that will shake all of Southern California is expected to begin, according to Robert de Groot, K-12 and Informal Education Programs Manager for SCEC.

This is the second year that the fair has been held, and was organized by the Eastern Coachella Valley Social Change Collaborative and other partnering organizations. The event's primary goal is to provide health services for the often-impoverished families of farmers in the Eastern Coachella Valley. More...

The Southern California Earthquake Center held an earthquake education workshop for local teachers at the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists annual meeting, on September 29. A total of 24 teachers from local middle and high schools attended the workshop that was held at the Sheraton Hotel at Universal City, Los Angeles.

"We handed out lesson plans about earthquake safety to the teachers, and they also got to do activities, which they could do with their classes, that demonstrated the nature of earthquakes," said Gema Venegas, Education Program Assistant for SCEC.

All topics taught in the workshop are aligned with the California K-12 Science Content Standards. Among the activities presented were plate puzzles (large maps cut apart that show how the planet's tectonic plates interact), and a demonstration from an "earthquake machine" (a device with a brick sliding on sandpaper that shows how hard it is to predict earthquakes). More...

Time for another free Public Lecture from the U.S. Geological Survey! The next lecture, titled "Advancements in Earthquake Response", will be on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 7:00pm. The event will take place in the Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College.

The USGS is continuing to develop new and improved tools for post-earthquake information and response. A new system just made public, PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response), automatically identifies earthquakes that will be of societal importance, well in advance of news accounts. PAGER builds on "Did You Feel It", ShakeMap and other rapid earthquake information and now plays a primary alerting role for global earthquake disasters.

Come learn more about the technologies scientists are developing to aid emergency response, to help you, your family and citizens of the world.

Prominent earthquake scientists from USC’s Southern California Earthquake Center and the United States Geological Survey say they are nervous about the potential for a great earthquake on the San Andreas fault and are working to develop a better understanding of the next "Really Big One." Their concern is shared by emergency responders and other experts, who all fear major loss of life and property unless we each take action now to be ready, by securing buildings and contents. More...