Eric Gelinas

Northridge, 1994.

It's true.

The U.S. Geological Survey's prototype "Shake Alert" system has been running since January. It can theoretically warn you as much as 90 seconds before the Big One hits. Here are the institutions that would be warned if it happened today:

BHUSD is fighting until the bitter end

The move would result in $60 million more in publicly-subsidized Measure R funds and would require tunneling under Beverly Hills High School. Beverly Hills Unified School District, understandably, is not too thrilled with the results.

Burrowing under the school could endanger future development on the high school campus and inhibit the school district from using $334 million in recently passed subsidies. So, BHUSD is fighting back.

Camp and Hotel Siesta

A 4.3 hit Southern California (4 miles southeast of Newhall, to be precise), and we barely even noticed. In fact, much of the LA Weekly daily news staff was at lunch and didn't notice at all.

You want to know why?

The redder, the more potential damage inflicted by Big One. Good luck, L.A.

In 2005, a University of California study predicted the Big One would hit sooner than later...

Tsunami warning sirens for L.A?

We noted recently that some of Southern California's most densely populated beach communities right here in L.A. don't have Japanese-style tsunami warning sirens that could save lives.

A tsunami inundation map shows that Venice and Marina Del Rey, built on low-lying wetlands, could be particularly hard hit by such waves.

So the L.A. County Board of Supervisors today will take up the possibility of installing sirens along the coast. You up for that?

tomvandeweghe

Japan's big one.

No, he's journalist Simon Winchester, who wrote in Newsweek that the Japanese 9.0 earthquake March 11 paired with other Pacific Rim shakers could help trigger the big one right here in California.

Well, before you go calling him crazy, which many have, consider that he has a point:

Fukushima, on-edge.

Could radiation from Japan's quake-stricken nuclear power plants reach Los Angeles?

It's a long shot. But a look at Pacific jet stream animation shows that what happens in Japan doesn't stay in Japan. The stream carries weather from Asia straight into the Pacific Northwest and, at times, into Southern California.

However ...

Japan Airlines

It's a possibility. But you won't hear that from U.S. officials. At least not yet. The U.S. State Department issued an alert last weekend telling Americans to avoid travel to the earthquake-and-tsunami ravaged country.

But there's no information about the possibility of radiation exposure via air travel. And that's an important consideration for regulars at LAX, which is one of the nation's biggest jumping-off points for travel to Tokyo.

L.A. County Fire Dept.

The urban search and rescue squad called California Task Force 2, known in Japan as USA 2, are using specially trained dogs to sniff out tsunami survivors and the deceased along the coast.

The county fire department reported that the 74-member team is ...

bobcareyfoto

This girl brought her piggybank to an L.A. Red Cross fund-raiser for Japan.

They also say that efforts targeted at specific disasters don't help those in need in the long run.

Of course, not everyone agrees.

Monica Diaz of the Red Cross Los Angeles Region told the Weekly this today:

tomvandeweghe via Twitpic

The aftermath of Japan's tsunami.

That's one and a half times more powerful than originally believed.

The move comes after Japanese scientists bumped up the number over the weekend.

U.S. Navy

Devastation in Sendai, Japan.

That said, we were amazed at how many stories are out there about Japan earthquake scams, though none seem to exist yet. Turns out most press on the topic is about how avoid being scammed.

Okay, so now you know.

jefferson via Twitpic

A crack in the earth in Japan.

The Dodgers announced the team would organize a "drive-through" relief effort at Dodger Stadium Tuesday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. where folks can drop off donation to the American Red Cross' Japan relief fund.

The efforts in L.A., with one of the largest populations of people of Japanese heritage in the nation, are particularly pronounced.

Venice311

"Massive crowd at pier. Surfers and boats in water. LAPD copter telling people to move to no avail."

But after watching walls of water take out entire villages on the news all night, our own wave action was looking damn wimpy in the morning light.

Tsunami watchers at Seal Beach told KNX news radio that waves actually looked smaller than usual...

Earthquake prediction is a house of cards.

This particular prediction -- they always seem to come on the heels of hot weather or another earthquake -- says the West Coast could see a big one between Wednesday and Friday. Of course, as we told you before ...

The quake centered three miles north-northeast of Santa Barbara Island struck at 10:42 p.m. according to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center. Did you feel it? Southern Californians from Huntington Beach to Oxnard said they did.

A prototype warning system plugged into 300 sensors along the San Andreas fault is already being tested, and it could someday give SoCal residents as much as a 70-second heads-up when a temblor strikes, according to the Orange County Register.

Kate Hutton of the U.S. Geological Survey told reporters that experts aren't sure: " ... We can't predict earthquakes, we don't know when they're going to happen, so we have to be prepared all the time.''