Hi Roger,

Here's a segment from my post of 6/9. Does Satsop Wa have quakes in the 5.0 range, yes indeed it does. Not very often, but once in awhile. I think my olive sandwich analogy is a good one in regard the Satsop situation. Could one imagine a small news story in which one or more seismologists might say, "we are continuing to have unsettled conditions in the state and though its unlikely another 6.0 or great quake might occur, we should expect quakes up into the 5.0 range during the next few months." It opens up the possibility to those who might want to rethink earthquake preparedness issues, instead of thinking, "well, we've had the big one, so now we don't have to worry about it anymore." See, disarming and yet at the same time, letting them know its not over just yet. More like forecasting than prediction, not scary, but makes a statement that is palatable to the public. That's it in a nutshell. The possibilities are there to communicate a non alarming public message, yet being informative on what's going on and not knowing the actual outcome. It would work for me for sure. Petra

"I see the Seattle/Vancouver regions remain unsettled and in that my general sense of things tells me not to expect just these micro quakes, but other larger ones as well. As I know little about subduction quakes, I have asked Don to seek out information about prior subduction events to see what kind of activity has followed a large event. I want to know if the kind of activity the NW is experiencing is "normal."

In the minds eye what I see would be like a sandwich with one slice of the bread hanging over the other and inside would be olives. The olives keep moving around, rather than being pushed down and held in place with the weight of the bread on top.

Though in this past week there were a lot of small quakes up there, the one's that have caught my attention are those that run up from Shelton to Whidbey Island and over to Vancouver Island. These are the places that had immediate aftershocks after the Feb quake, with the exception of the Vancouver Is quake. Therefore, to me at least, it seems more likely than not that the area will at some point experience larger quakes up to the 6.7 range and perhaps even larger within a year, but I would expect it closer now than later.

Just observations....Petra"