Japan Quake

Today is my day for posting about geology! But I wanted to write one more quick blog about the earthquake in Japan a couple days ago, and some thoughts I have about it as a geologist.

I think that everyone should make the attempt to learn at least a little about geology. Even if you aren't into the romantic aspects of it, there are many practical applications. Most people think "what's there to know about rocks?" but then you have something like the 8.9 earthquake in Japan, and suddenly it seems pretty important. Everyone was wondering how an earthquake causes a tsunami, ( and some wondered if the tsunami makes it's way to California would it cause earthquakes here!)
A lot of people here, on the West Coast, could have been spared the terror of believing something straight out of movies like 2012 was going to occur if they had just the smallest understanding of geology. For example people along the California coast were freaking out and racing for higher ground early this morning in their pajamas when the tsunami wave was just about reaching Hawaii, a full six or seven hours before it was likely to reach here. (Actually I don't have a problem with evacuating as an extra precaution, it was probably a good idea. It's just that people were doing it terrified that they would be engulfed in a 200' high wall of water if they didn't move now.) And that is totally ridiculous. They panicked and scared the crap out of themselves for no reason. They imagined California being wiped off the map. Knowing about geology, topography, and that the Pacific Ocean is pretty freaking huge, I predicted that at worst there would be some flooding around the bay, and some damage to boats in the marinas, and maybe the loss of some waterfront property.
I bet the people who were sitting in their cars on the side of mountain roads, imagining their homes being washed away and settling to the bottom of the dark ocean (with all their family pictures and heirlooms) would have appreciated knowing that the possibility of that happening was almost zero.

Another interesting thing to think about from a geologic perspective is that because of the news, and the videos of the devastation, many people probably don't realize how much worse the damage and death toll would have been if it had occurred anywhere else in the world. Most people don't realize that Japan is prepared for an event like this (well, as prepared as anyone can be for a natural disaster), that they have the strictest building codes in the world, and that hundreds of thousands of lives were spared two days ago because of a combined effort (over several decades) of geologist, geotechnical engineers, engineering geologist, and civil engineers. These people  found ways to design buildings that don't collapse around workers and families during earthquakes through an understanding of geology, plate tectonics and engineering. It's hard to count how many people aren't dead that should have been if not for the meticulous building codes, but I'd guess the number would be in the tens of thousands.
The earthquake and tsunami are a horrible disaster for the Japanese people to be sure (and the nuclear power plant situation is worrying) but it could have been a lot worse. And we have an understanding of geology (and other sciences) to thank for that!