In May of this year, QuakeFinder technicians Bob and Rey Camins traveled to Taiwan, installed the last 4 instruments, and upgraded the existing 11 instruments to the latest configuration, completing the network. Our colleagues were especially helpful in getting this network installed and running. The installation process involved 12-hour work days, mosquitoes, really large spiders, and occasional snakes. During this trip, heavy rain and landslides were added to the challenges, but the team hung in there and finished the job on time. Many thanks go to the entire team for all their cooperation and hard work.
At 5:12 AM on April 18, 1906, the ground shook like it had never done before in San Francisco. An estimated Magnitude 7.8 earthquake broke the city, and started numerous fires that decimated what was left of many structures. Over 3,000 people died. This major earthquake ruptured 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas Fault from San Juan Bautista to Cape Mendocino. No warning was available then. Even today, 108 years later, there is no accepted warning system for such a quake. In 1906, horses were reported to be agitated in the barns near the Presidio prior to the quake. What were they sensing? We think that they may have sensed ultra low frequency magnetic waves or static electricity from ionized air around them. Today we have instrumented much of the San Andreas and other major faults in California with sensitive magnetometers and air ionization sensors to see if these phenomena occur regularly before large quakes. We are actively collecting a valuable “baseline” of electromagnetic signatures for these faults. The hope is that future major quakes repeat the same two week sequence of magnetic pulses and air conductivity changes observed by QuakeFinder instruments that preceded the M5.4 Alum Rock, CA and M6.2 Tacna, Peru quakes in 2007 and 2010 respectively.