A Do-It-Yourself Test For the Galileo Syndrome – October 8, 2011

Question: Are you a victim of “The Galileo Syndrome?”

Here is a simple do-it-yourself test that might let you know if that is the case.

Ask yourself the following question:

What type of information does an important earthquake warning absolutely need to have?

If you answered:

An important earthquake warning absolutely needs to have accurate Time Window, Location, and Magnitude information!!!

Then, you could conceivably be a victim of the Galileo Syndrome!

Consider the following:

When disaster mitigation groups such as the Red Cross need to get prepared to respond to a destructive earthquake they would certainly like to know when and where it is going to occur. However, the only piece of information that is absolutely essential for their advance efforts has to do with When the earthquake will occur.

It can take disaster mitigation organizations days or even weeks to get all of their gear collected and packed etc. so that they can respond to a destructive earthquake. And if they could get an advance warning of even one day letting them know that they were going to need to respond to an earthquake then they could be ready and packed to go when they finally learned exactly when and where it occurred.

That Time Window information by itself could save them invaluable preparation hours or even days. They would not need to know the actual location beforehand. Nor would they need to know anything about the earthquake magnitude. A low magnitude earthquake, for example, that occurs close to the surface directly beneath a city can do far more damage than a highly powerful one that occurs in some remote area or out in the ocean (as long as it does not generate a tsunami).

And so, if you truly believe that an earthquake warning that does not contain accurate Time Window, Location, and Magnitude information is totally useless then you might be a victim of the Galileo Syndrome. What you sincerely believe and what you could be stating to other people as being factual is actually out of touch with the true reality of the situation.

These are personal opinions.