Ideally, people would like to know when an earthquake is going to happen and how bad it will be. People have long believed that earthquakes can be forecast. In Japan, scientists have wired the Earth and sea to detect movements. The Chinese have traditionally watched animals and plants for warning signs of earthquakes. (1) Certain birds, like pigeons, also seemed to be especially noisy, and were reported to be flying in unusual patterns before the earthquake. Perhaps most interesting, and most easily measured, is a chemical change in ground water before a quake. Experimental data seem to indicate that the amount of radon (氡) in the water under the surface of the Earth waxes before an earthquake.
Every family needs to have earthquake emergency plans. How will family members leave the area during the chaos following and earthquake? Everyone should agree on a meeting point outside the area—perhaps in a town several miles away. (2) Also important is an arrangement for family member to communicate if there is an earthquake in case that an earthquake happens in a large city, many of the telephone lines within the city are likely to be down. The few remaining working lines will be busy with the calls that naturally occur after a disaster and it will be difficult to call from one part of the city to another. It might, however, be possible to call outside the city. (3) A sensible arrangement is to have all of the members of the family call to check in with a friend or relative who lives more than a hundred miles away.
(4) Although scientists still cannot predict earthquakes, they are learning a great deal about how the large plates in the earth’s crust move, the stresses between plates, how earthquakes work, and the general probability that a given place will have an earthquake. Someday soon it may actually become possible to predict earthquakes with accuracy. (5) However, even if prediction becomes possible, people who live in areas where earthquakes are a common occurrence will still have to do their best to prevent disasters by building structures that are resistant to ground movement and by being personally prepared. These precautions can make a great difference in saving lives and preventing the loss of homes. Education concerning bow to survive an earthquake should be a major emphasis for all government programs and earthquake-related research projects.
