NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/ca/earthqua/1621

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-25 | 3.2 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!europa.asd.contel.com!darwin.sura.net!seismo!skadi!stead
From: [e-mail] (Richard Stead)
Newsgroups: ca.earthquakes
Subject: Re: earthquakes during surgery
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 25 Jan 93 21:17:15 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
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Nntp-Posting-Host: skadi.css.gov

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Dick King) writes:
> However, i understand there to be devices that can give you perhaps a fifteen
> seconds warning of an impending 'quake.  They work because it takes a while for
> the shock to travel from the fault to elsewhere, so a device mounted on a fault
> can send a radio signal that can be picked up.  I suspect that fifteen seconds
> would help a lot if you want to avoid cutting random wiring or plumbing within
> the patient.

True.  This is one of the many conceivable situations where an early warning
system could be useful.  But it would not be cost-effective in isolation -
basically, an early warning system has to be justified in more general terms,
then hospitals can simply receive the signal, at negligible cost.

Some other uses of early warning:
1) construction sites (everybody out of the ditch on the alarm, etc.)
2) nuclear power (drop the rods if expected acceleration is very high)
3) electrical distribution - re-route power in anticipation of downed lines
   (There is a scenario for a quake on the San Andreas north of LA, where
   all the mains coming across the fault are severed, and the power pulse
   travelling back north from the breaks takes out most of the western grid.
   A power engineer could say how realistic that might be.)
4) Bring emergency generators on-line (hospitals, emergency facilities, etc.)
5) Phone company - for example, the Whittier Narrows quake, despite being
   rather small, knocked over 300,000 phones off the hook simultaneously.
   The phone system overloaded, and it took a long time to correct.
6) elevators - send them to the ground floor and leave the doors open.
7) fire stations - move the trucks and ambulances out of the buildings.
8) manufacturing - any delicate equipment could be returned to its locked-down
   state.
9) computers - critical systems could be taken down smoothly to avoid loss
   of data and/or inconsistant data
10) media - they love to be the first to know.
11) general public - curiosity, peace of mind, safety (put down that pan of
    boiling water), whatever.

Anyway, I think early warning is justified, given the many possible existing
uses.  And there are undoubtedly uses that cannot be anticipated.  (the only
disadvantages are 1) possibility of panic and 2) possibility of false alarms).

> Does anyone know what is done about the possibility of an earthquake during
> surgery, in the real world?

About 0.  However, the possibility of surgery during an earthquake is 100%.
(the difference is due to the fact that at any given time, in any region
of CA, there are a few OR's active.  So there will be surgery during a major
quake.  However, quakes are so infrequent, and surgery so frequent, that the
chance of a major quake during any particular surgery is almost 0).


--
Richard Stead
Center for Seismic Studies
Arlington, VA
[e-mail]