Larry Cochrane wrote:
> 
> >From the sci.geo.earthquake newsgroup, Larry
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
> News Release
> U.S. Geological Survey
> November 29, 1999
> Contact: Pat Jorgenson, pjorgenson@........
> 
> News Release
> U.S. Geological Survey
> November 29, 1999
> Contact: Pat Jorgenson, pjorgenson@........
> 
> POINT, CLICK, AND BECOME A SEISMOSITTER
> 
> In an effort to learn more about which parts of San Francisco and Oakland
> are likely to receive the most damage in the next big earthquake, Dr. Alan
> Lindh and his colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey are looking for a
> few good backyards. Seventy of them, to be exact. And when they find them,
> via the Internet, Lindh and his assistants will install in each of those
> backyards a portable instrument that will record all earth movements at the
> site for the next six months.
> 
> Residents and commercial establishments who would like to become partners
> with the USGS in the earthquake-monitoring project can learn more about it
> and volunteer their property by going to . They
> should log on as soon as possible, as Lindh and his team would like to get
> the seismometer network installed before the end of 1999.
> 
> The Web site includes information about the current study as well as the
> USGS' previous research on earthquake activity in the San Jose area.
> Residents who are willing to have a seismometer placed on their property
> can complete and submit a volunteer form, via the Web, and Web site
> visitors can view maps that highlight information about the study, and can
> go to related earthquake sites to obtain more information about earthquakes
> and what they can do to prepare for them. The USGS plans to collect all the
> data it needs by September 2000. Lindh and others will spend the subsequent
> year analyzing the data, and will publish the results on the Web by
> September 2001.
> 
> Installing a seismometer in a backyard will involve digging a small hole
> and inserting the instrument. Ideally, the backyard would be fenced to
> discourage "tinkering" by unauthorized persons, but would not be guarded by
> an unfriendly dog, as USGS technicians will need to visit the site about
> once a week to retrieve the data. The use of a nearby electrical outlet
> will be necessary.
> 
> The San Francisco/Oakland monitoring project is patterned after the
> backyard seismometer network established by Lindh in San Jose in 1998.
> During that project, 40 seismometers were placed in backyards in San Jose
> and adjacent areas for three months. Data gleaned from the new project will
> be used for several scientific purposes, including building a better
> computer model of the Bay Area for modeling strong ground motion and
> estimating the site-amplification effects.
> 
> "The main thrust of this is to get a better handle on the structure of the
> rocks below the city," Lindh said. "By putting seismometers on basically
> every unit, we'll be able to build a three-dimensional model of what the
> earth looks like underneath San Francisco and Oakland, and that will help
> computer modelers build better models of the shaking that will occur during
> a major earthquake."
> 
> The results of the study will be used to predict which parts of the cities,
> based on the makeup of the earth beneath them, are likely to receive the
> most damage during the next sizeable earthquake, which has a two-thirds
> chance of happening within the next 30 years, according to Lindh.
> "Homeowners will be able to use the information to renovate their homes,
> and planning officials will be able to construct buildings, bridges, and
> transportation and utility infrastructures that are more resistant to
> earthquakes. Over the long-run, it will influence the way buildings are
> constructed," Lindh said. "It may take five to 10 years, but eventually it
> will end up as part of the building codes and the planning regulations."
> 
> For the Internet and computer support of the project, the USGS has
> established a partnership with Microsoft and Carta Inc. Microsoft has
> agreed to donate software, while its Web development partner, Carta Inc.,
> has agreed to build and maintain the site.
> 
> As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian
> mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2000
> organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific
> information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. This
> information is gathered in every state  by USGS scientists to minimize the
> loss of life and property from natural disasters, to contribute to the
> conservation and the sound economic and physical development of the
> nation's natural resources, and to enhance the quality of life by
> monitoring water, biological, energy, and mineral resources.
> 
>                 ***USGS***
> 
> This press release and in-depth information about USGS programs may be
> found on the USGS home page:  . To receive the latest
> USGS news releases automatically by email, send a request to
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> joe smith.
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We will be relocating to Eureka springs Arkansas in about 5 months to
our new home. I hope to be watching the New Madrid Fault....Is there a
similar program for that area or not?

                                            Bill kovach

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