Hi Todd,

Yes, I'm sure the quakes of the past were as large as reported for several reasons. First there were many damage reports and newspaper accounts of what happened during the earthquakes. Also since then our scientists have gone out and have done some field research that when combined with the reports provides a fairly accurate record. Don't forget the Modified Mercali scale which measures ground shaking intensities from which you can assess damage, ie magnitude from such damage.

As for people leaving the state after a series of earthquakes, that's not going to happen. There was no great exodus after Loma Prieta or Northridge. Most people when taking an assessment of the problems that plague other states would rather ride out the occasional earthquake. I'm there as well. I'd take an earthquake any day over a tornado or a hurricane. I am a little different than most in that I can't wait for one to happen so I can feel it, but on the other hand, I don't want to feel it so much as to do damage to my house or anyone elses. Gosh, that can be difficult. Its like wishing for snow, but no traffic accidents from it. Rather ambiguous.

In the late 70's I lived in Pinole and we had lots of earthquakes. Many 5's and 6's and my home rocked and rolled and I loved it. One curious note though, I had a water bed and I found at night I would wake up from a pinging sound coming through the water in the mattress. The next day I would hear a news report of an earthquake of a low magnitude over night. It was like having my own personal sonar.

Don's sitting next to me and shaking his head and saying "you're weird, you're weird, you're weird." I wonder what he means by that?

We worked hard this weekend putting together the Special Edition for the web site. It's all about the Parkfield Project. It will be up in a couple of days. I need a few more to get the cartoon in and the photo gallery in place. Its a terrific story. Don't forget to drop by and read it over next weekend.

I hope the above was helpful....Petra