Was a bit tense to see my phone alerts going off over and over, continually increasing the estimate of the earthquake strength, followed by the shaking getting worse.
For people who don't know, those phone alerts give you literally like 5 seconds of heads up. By the time I finished reading the first message, the shaking had already started. And I got the message while I was holding my phone and using it.
In Mexico City the seismic alert gives like a minute (sensors are on the coast off Guerrero 350km away). Communities closer to the usual epicenter get almost no warning.
That alone can help save people.
5 seconds is still time purchased for those who use it wisely.
It isn't a huge help, but broadcasting to everyone in range of certain towers shouldn't be dystopian.
Also TIL that in 2023, while in a smaller earthquake webcam streamers (adult entretainers) went out of their apartments in lingerie.
We can alert for storms, tornadoes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, and even somewhat extraterrestrial disasters like asteroids.
The earth itself must move in predictable patterns similar to the weather, and I'm sure there is decades of research around this I'll never even approach to understanding. Just surprising to have such a big knowledge gap that affects humanity year round
But getting that data seems... practically impossible at our current tech level.
That we can basically do. "Observations show that the chance of an earthquake being followed by a larger one nearby and within a week is about 5%."
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-a-fore...
It is an incredibly safe bet that any earthquake is not the sign of a larger one.
e: first time I dreamed of an earthquake
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Texas
There's at least one[a] town/city called San Jose in at least[b] 4 US states. Not to mention other things named such (e.g. 2 different San Jose creeks in California, neither of which is in the San Jose metro - one in LA and one in Monterey)
[a] there appears to be 2 towns in new mexico called San Jose
[a.2] Illinois amuses me because there's a San Jose and St Joseph both, and both are small.
[b] There appears to be a tiny (pop 15) town called San Jose in Texas, but it's unclear if that's officially incorporated, etc.