"Teachable Moment" is a euphemism for "somebody fracked up".
Lin commented on this NYTimes article I sent her and she recommended those on this Geology list also have an opportunity to read it."Good info to know. Please share this with our readers on Geo2. This is a great piece on how a few words can either make or break a panic.And now, of all times, I think people need to be reassured that any prediction is just that: a possible event and nothing definite. "
"Cheers,
Lin"Clicking 'Send' Spurs Quake Anxiety
BERKELEY, Calif. — Already rattled by a swarm of small earthquakes last month, residents here were jolted by an authentic-sounding e-mail that said geologists were predicting a major earthquake in the coming weeks.
The e-mail, which spread quickly through town last weekend, caused anxiety at City Hall and among earthquake-hardened residents, even though seismologists do not make such specific predictions.
It was written to friends and colleagues by Genie Stowers, the chairwoman of the department of public administration at San Francisco State University.
Dr. Stowers wrote that a student who works at Berkeley City Hall had told her that geologists were briefing officials about "a 30 percent chance of an earthquake above a 6.0 magnitude on the Hayward fault in the next two to three weeks." Berkeley straddles the Hayward fault.
During a break in her class in information knowledge management, Dr. Stowers said, she talked to the student and then wrote the e-mail. She clicked "send" and, after adding links on earthquake preparedness, sent it out repeatedly.
Because of budget woes, many city employees were taking "voluntary time off" on Friday as Dr. Stowers's correspondents forwarded her e-mail to parent, school and neighborhood groups.
It was even posted to the city's Disaster Prep Neighborhood Network, which helps residents prepare for a quake.
Berkeley has more than 100 neighborhood groups working on earthquake preparation and 60 caches of earthquake supplies. Most of its buildings are retrofitted to withstand a major earthquake.
"If there is a city that is better prepared, I don't know where it is," Mayor Tom Bates said.
Lynn Zummo, the chairwoman of the Berkeley Disaster and Fire Safety Commission, was deluged with e-mails from residents, some "in a panic" and others asking, "Is this true?"
"People were already feeling nervous," Ms. Zummo said. "This just added fuel to the fire."
Last weekend, Keith Knudsen, deputy director of the Earthquake Science Center at the United States Geological Survey in nearby Menlo Park, fielded calls from worried friends and neighbors.
Dr. Stowers's e-mail had the ring of truth, Dr. Knudsen said, but not the facts.
"Our best science tells us there's about a 30 percent chance over the next 30 years — not the next two or three weeks — of a 6.7 or greater earthquake somewhere along the Hayward fault," Dr. Knudsen said.
Last Saturday, a City Council member, Kriss Worthington, who received dozens of e-mails and calls from worried constituents, asked council members and the mayor if anyone had received earthquake briefings.
None said they had.
The city worker who spoke with Dr. Stowers refused a request for an interview.
But a spokeswoman for the mayor said that the worker was referring to random e-mails about earthquakes she had read and that Dr. Stowers had "misconstrued" her comments.
The Fire Department and the city manager's office sent out e-mails saying that "neither the U.S.G.S. nor Caltech nor any other scientist have ever predicted a major earthquake."
In an e-mail sent to Mr. Worthington late Monday, Dr. Stowers apologized — and that e-mail quickly spread through the community, too.
In an interview, Dr. Stowers called the experience "a teachable moment." "We need to be more careful about what we put in e-mails to people," Dr. Stowers said. "We might have networks, but so do they."
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