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UC Davis experts: Earthquakes

The University of California, Davis, has experts available to discuss earthquake-related topics. The following researchers can provide assistance in the subject areas listed.

Earthquakes in Latin America

History professor Charles Walker, who directs the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at UC Davis, can speak to South America�s experience with devastating earthquakes. In 2008, Walker published the book Shaky Colonialism: The 1746 Earthquake-Tsunami in Lima, Peru, and Its Long Aftermath, which examines the social and political repercussions of a massive earthquake that destroyed Peru�s capital city. In August 2009, while doing research for a book about 20th century earthquakes in South America, Walker visited Chile and was impressed by the high caliber of that country�s building codes and emergency plans. He is available to do interviews in Spanish or English. Contact: Chuck Walker, History, (530) 752-3046, cfwalker@ucdavis.edu.

When the ground shifts

Ross Boulanger, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, studies liquefaction and other ground responses to earthquakes He.combines field observations and measurements with laboratory work to create predictive conceptual and physical models of liquefaction risk. These can be translated into computational models. His research involves use of UC Davis' very large centrifuge (see separate entry in this list) and visiting earthquake sites around the world, including Loma Prieta (1989), Northridge (1994), Kobe (1995), Turkey and Taiwan (1999). In Turkey and Taiwan, Boulanger was among a select group of geotechnical experts sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Contact: Ross Boulanger, Civil and Environmental Engineering, (530) 752-2947, rwboulanger@ucdavis.edu.

Forecasting the next major earthquake

The San Francisco Bay region has a 25 percent chance of a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake in the next 20 years, and a roughly 1 percent chance of such an earthquake each year, according to the "Virtual California" computer simulation developed by John Rundle, director of the UC Davis Computational Science and Engineering Center, and colleagues from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions. The researchers aim to use sophisticated computer models, knowledge of fault patterns and satellite data to develop "forecasts" of areas that are likely to have a major earthquake within a certain time. They have already produced 10-year forecasts for California, Japan and worldwide, which are currently under test. Contact: John Rundle, Computational Science and Engineering Center, (530) 752-6416, jbrundle@ucdavis.edu. (Not available April 1-9.)

Why organizations won't plan for disasters

Disasters and organizational behavior

Tom Beamish is an organizational and community sociologist who studies how organizations and communities define, respond and deal with disasters, hazards and risk generally. Beamish, an associate professor of sociology, can speak about how organizations — governmental, commercial and social — respond to man-made disasters as well as how and why the public responds to risks and plans by trustees organizations like the government and industry to manage it. He says many contemporary risks — from climate change to oil spills — reflect long-term problems that have been actively ignored or simply not seen by the trustee organizations charged with protecting the public. These organizations are generally reactive, often because being proactive means making difficult choices over funding and priorities, choosing among the risks, and a basic inertia in organizational routines. Beamish wrote Silent Spill: The Organization of an Industrial Crisis (2002). He received a 2003 Hazards Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Contact: Tom Beamish, Sociology, (530) 754-6897, tdbeamish@ucdavis.edu.

The California connection

Why does California have so many earthquakes, and so many big ones? UC Davis associate professor and seismologist Jim McClain can explain the basic role of tectonic plate activity in causing earthquakes around the world, California's hazardous location at the collision of two of those plates, and the reasons why the Central Valley is relatively protected from devastating earthquakes. Contact: Jim McClain, Geology, (530) 752-7093, mcclain@geology.ucdavis.edu.

Why earthquakes happen

Louise Kellogg is chair of the UC Davis geology department. She studies how the slow movement of rock deep in the Earth's interior drives the movement of tectonic plates, building mountains as well as causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Contact: Louise Kellogg, Geology, (530) 752-3690, kellogg@geology.ucdavis.edu.

Earthquakes in Latin America

UC Davis historian Chuck Walker is an expert on the history of catastrophes and natural disasters, such as earthquakes, in the Andes. He can talk about the historical politics of Latino natural disasters as well as the history of crime and violence in the region. Contact: Chuck Walker (fluent in Spanish), History, (530) 752-3865, cfwalker@ucdavis.edu.

Simulating an Earthquake in the Laboratory

UC Davis is home to one of the world's largest geotechnical centrifuges, at the Geotechnical Modeling Facility. It consists of a testing table, capable of carrying loads of five tons, mounted on the end of a 30-foot-long arm. The assembly spins around at speeds up to 70 revolutions per minute, generating forces up to 50 times the force of gravity. When the desired speed is reached, the table is shaken to simulate intense earthquake shaking. Researchers from around the world use the facility to study geotechnical problems such as the strength, stiffness and capacity of foundations for bridges and buildings; settlement of embankments; stability of slopes; earth retaining structures; tunnel stability; ports and seawalls. Contact: Bruce Kutter, Civil and Environmental Engineering, (530) 752-8099, blkutter@ucdavis.edu.

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Last updated Sept. 8, 2011