Actually, at the press conference I thought that Olmos (the celebrity spokeperson) went to far and I suggested to the person next to me that someone talk to him to tone it down...but only a little. That person (a big shot) said he would take care of that. I will make some posts on the workshop later. I tried your (Mary's) link but did not see the editorial. It does seem that the point of this new effort is to scare people enough that they take a worst case, but realistic scanario seriously, so they are prepared in their houses and in their neighborhoods. An engineer gave a presentation (not part of press conference) where he showed maps of where ductile and non-ductile steel frame buildings would collapse in a repeat of the 1857 earthquake...not a pretty picture...more later .
John V.......ethics question here...I will feel free to post some stuff that I think is available in publications or abstracts...although may do some stuff that was presented that may or may not be otherwise available, with some discretion. OK?
Chris