Hi Canie,

Thanks for bringing that to our attention. These situations are so much like trying to split hairs. On one side the government is afraid of panic and on the other side you have citizens who should be thinking about preparedness.

Just last week we had that swarm down by Calexico and so far no news has come to light about any possible warnings as a result of that area's seismicity. Perhaps it may go public in several months?

I think its time to try and find some middle ground on this issue. Could someone say for instance, "there has been a lot of activity in X area recently which means the probability for a 5.0 or greater earthquake has been increased. We would like to encourage citizens to review their earthquake preparedness plans and update their earthquake supplies if necessary." Does that sound like a big bad earthquake is about to occur? No, not really.

The greatest single problem is that lack of constant reminders that we do live in earthquake country and that we should always be prepared. If this was done on a routine basis the warnings really would never need to be delivered.

I did my part on this issue this week. I sent a request to the USGS to look into free PSA's for TV and radio. I have only seen one in the past seven years. That's not nearly enough.

Petra