1969_04 The Daily Collegian April 1969

              California still whole, high and dry
4    THE DAILY COLLEGIAN    Thuraday, April
Quake predictions scientifically unfounded
Self-proclaimed mystics are
predicting the doom of CaUfornla
in AprU by an earthquake so
devastating that the western por¬
tion of the- state win break off
and slide into the aea while the
central sectors are I
raging Ooodwatar*.
Th* predlcUons ar
ous that every date In April, has
been singled out as California's
doomsday. |
According to the my a tics,
three-fourths of the state win be
destroyed and 15 million people
killed. They agree that the coast¬
al areas — Including San Fran¬
cisco, Los Angeles andSanDlego
— will no longer exist as all land
west of the San Andreas Fault
wiU crash into the sea. However,
the mysUca cannot agree on Just
how the San Joaquin and Imperial
Valleys will be flooded - some
say by salt water, and others In¬
dicate the floodwaters will come
when the OrovUle Dam breaks.
But sclenUsts who have studied
earthquake patterns and the San
Andreas Fault ridicule these pre¬
dictions as being Incredible and
Inconceivable.
Dr. Seymour Mack, professor
of geology at Fresno State Col¬
lege, said that tbe prophesies are
•typical end-of-the-world pre¬
dictions ... all prominent geol¬
ogists and geophyslclsts think
that the prophesies are ridicu¬
lous* because there Is absolutely
no way to predict when there wl 11
•earthquake-
nesaee to avoid destrucUon by an
earthquake. Elder Robert J.
Theobold, pastor of what was un-
Ul Oct. 12 th* Friendly Bible
Apostolic Church, told theSatur-
day Evening Post In aa Interview
that be received his massage of
doom from the Lord.
The Lord has shown me that
It's definitely coming, but He
hasn't shown me when,* Elder
Theobold said. ' 'Sell your pro¬
perty' waa the Lord's message
to me, and 'get out'.'
But lt was left to a California
historian to pinpoint the Ume of
that sometime between 1958 and
1998 a monstrous quake and tidal
wave would destroy SanFrancla-
co and Los Angeles. FoUowers of
Cayce maintain that the mystic
gave a more precise prediction
before his death. And lt was one
of these followers who prompted
Gentry's book.
In an Interview with the Los
Angeles Times, Gentry said that
his account of the quake is ac¬
curate up to the point where ev¬
erything sinks Into the ocean.
In addition, Gentry also Insisted
that a healthy panic was good for
tie up the boat In Idahoi Do you
know the swim? Better learn
quick, Jim. Those wbodon'tknow
the swim better sing the hymn.'
And then there are the mem¬
bers of the Fellowship of the
Ancient Mind, a telepathic society
claiming to be 6,000 years old.
Several of its members attempted
to apply for a salvage permit to
restore Los Angeles after it is
destroyed, but they were refused
when they could not post the S66
fee.
One of the fellowship's spokes¬
men, Arch-Druid Morioch, told
reporter*, however, that when the
time cornea, his group 'wiU give
everyone two days notice.*
And so the prophesies go on
WHERE ARE THE FAULTS?
This map shows the larger geological faults in and around
California which are known to be earthquake sources from
either historical or geological evidence. There are many
smaller faults in all parts of California.
Larger scale maps, showing geology and faults in detail,
are published by the California Division of Mines.
Strong shaking in an earthquake on one of the main
faults may extend to SO or even 100 miles on either side.
Other things being equal earthquake snaking, and the
risk of damage, are greater on soft ground than on rock
CaUfornla Is i
slderable number of acUve faults
here,* Mack said, and therefore
there probably will be a some¬
what disastrous quake here
someday. But, he emphasized, lt
is impossible to say with cer¬
tainty that one will come in
April.
The California Institute of
Technology received so many In¬
quiries about the quake that lt
Issued a three-page bulletin stat¬
ing: 'Wild predlcUons of disas¬
trous earthquakes are not sup¬
ported by scientific evidence and
are frightening many CaUfor-
nlans needlessly.*
There are many people In Cal¬
ifornia who can't, really decide
who knows more about earth¬
quakes, the scientists or the
mystics. Southern civil defense
officials report that there has
been a run on earthquake kits
and first aid manuals. And tele¬
vision and radio stations, asweU
as newspapers, have run special
reports on earthquakes on the
theory that people are panicking.
But no one in Fresno seems very
concerned; the CaUfornla Dis¬
aster Office here says that lt has
not had one Inquiry about earth-
predlctlons, It
pinpoint the originator. Thus far
predlcUons have been made by
professional foreseen of tbe fu¬
ture, members of the clergy, a
historian, a cartoonist, song
writers and members of a tele¬
pathic society.
Mrs. Elisabeth Steen, a Spo¬
kane, Wash.. mysUc who had fore-'
seen tbe death of Martin Luther
King, left San Francisco last fail
with 35 other famlUes after en¬
visioning a disastrous quake. Al¬
though she did not predict an
exact date, Mrs. Steen did predict
the quake's epicenter (that part
of the earth's surface directly
above the focus of an earthquake)
at Fresno. She cam* to this con¬
clusion after running her hand
over a map of California until
her" fingers vibrated, and they
vibrated right over Fresno.
On Oct. 12 a pastor of a Port
Hueneme, Calif., church lad his
80-member congregaUoo toTen-
actenUats' answer*
to reassure and avert panic.
Scientists claim that these or¬
acles have been predicting dis¬
asters for years and are con¬
sistently wrong. Dr. Charles F.
Rlehter, professor of seismology
at Cal Tech and developer of the
Rlehter scale for describing
quake magnitudes, notes In Cal
Tech's bulletin that In 1965 there
were predlcUons for Jan. 17,
Feb. 4, Mar. 17, Apr. 1 and 16
and all of May; but none of them
•Don't worry about predic¬
tions,' Rlehter said In aCaUfor-
nla Disaster Office booklet en-
Utled 'Our Earthquake Risk -
Facts and Non-Facts." Tourney
find yourself Involved In a de¬
structive earthquake five minutes
from now; but no one can teUyou
when. Claims to predict usually
come from cranks, pubUcity
seekers or people who pretend
to foresee the future In general.*
Mack said that anyone who
moves toCallfornla should expect
to experience an earthquake
sometime because there are ac¬
Uve faults running throughout the
state. The one most frequently
mentioned In the predlcUons,
however, Is the San Andreas
Fault, which runs almost the sa¬
tire length of CaUfornla from
Mendocino County to the Imperial
VaUey In a northweat-soothaast
dlrecUon.
Land along the fault has been
moving for 200 mlUloo years,
Mack said. The land west of tha
fault Is moving northwest, and
the land east of the fault Is mov¬
ing southeast. During these 200
million years. Mack said, lt Is
generally accepted that th* lsad
has moved a total of 160 miles -
an average of Just a few milli¬
meters a year.
There Is relatively little move¬
ment, Mack explained, until so
much strain builds up thai slip¬
page   occurs   causing  ground
Blue Key petitions due
BID*      Key,     Fresno     Stat*     th* coUege    (approximately 2 6)
College'*    honor fraternity. Is     and the completion of 60 units
seeking     upper    division men     of coUege work.
who have contributed to toe col-        _.    ._,,„_, „„., fc.„. ^
lege through leadership, .cooler-        Tt* K*iiakai mu8t *»*• *•«>-
ship or service.
Criteria for membership in¬
clude* a minimum G.P.A. placing
the appHcant in the upper 35
percent of the male students at        Service   to the coUege must
Quote science
onstrated leadership Involving a
high order of responslblUty or
accompUahment in the area of
student  acUvlUes.
(Continued from Pac* 4) mcbter pointed out in thebook-
phaslzed that thla does not mean     let that the quake Itself is not
wh8n- lethal. Hundreds, he said, lose
their Uves in toe collapse of
buildings so weak that they could
never have been erected under
any proper system of regulation
or inspection. He concluded that
over 90 per cent of the death*
and over 50 per cent of the pro¬
perty loss Is unnecessary and
preventable.
'Our real task is to make
people aware of the dangers of
substandard construcUon,'Rleh¬
ter said recently. 'This, of
course, is not accompUahed by
wild  predlcUons  of impending
And Mack agreed that lt Is not
the quake that kills, but the sub¬
sidiary effects that are harmful.
Fresno has never experienced
a quake that has done extensive
damage, Nathan S. Henderson of
the CaUfornla Disaster Office
said. But Mack cautioned that
even though there are no known
active faults In or adjacent to
toe Fresno area, there is always
toe possibility of a quake In valley
areas where there are large
quantlUes of sediment and where
there are rising mountain chains.
But as for a quake on the 8an
Andreas   Fault inflicting grave
standing  service in a speciaUzed
Th* organization holds reg¬
ular meetings and sponsors
numerous campus projects.     .
Each initiate 1* required to
pay a $35 fee." The fee covers
Initiation fees, shingles, dinner,
membership card and Bin* Key
shirt. Blue Key does not require
its members to pay doe*.
For additional information, caU
Chuck Brlettgam, Blue Key pres¬
ident, at 222-8157.
o the n
d the
day. Curt Gentry In his book.
•The Last Days of the Late,
Great State of CaUfornla,* pub¬
lished Nov. 15 and which la, ac¬
cording to the Los Angeles
Times, a bestseller In the Los
Angeles area, predicts that the
quake will come at 3:13 p.m. on
a Friday. Just which Friday Is
not specified, but Gentry does
provide does a* to when. Times'
writer Linda Mathews points out,
however, that Gentry's clues In¬
dicate that toe quake will come In
December right before Christ¬
mas vacation and not In AprU.
In Us book Gentry describes a
science fiction seen* where
bridges and highways buckle,
massive buildings collapse and
toe OrovUle Dam, toe world's
highest earth-ffiled dam, breaks
and floods the Central Valley.'
Eventually, Gentry concludes, the
quake opens a fissure along the
San Andreas Fault the length of
the state, and tha most populated
secUons of California disappear
as strange fog* envelop the land.
Gentry's prediction has been
traced by some to Kentucky mys¬
tic Edgar Cayce, who would an¬
swer questions of the future while
In a deep sleep. Although he bad
never been to CaUfornla, he told
• worried businessman In 1941
lt might prompt reforms.
•People are taking earthquakes
seriously for once,* Gentry told
the Times. "The public, aware
of possible disaster, may press
for stricter building codes and
will prevent dishonest builders
from putting up developments
right over the fault. . . these
reforms are long overdue.*
Gentry did not say, however,
whether tbe reforms would*bome
in Ume to save California.
A cartoonlst-arilst In Los An¬
geles has even pictured the dis¬
aster in a large gold, black and
orange poster selling for $2.50
or free to new subscribers of the
Los Angeles Free Press.
Popular songwriters, too, have
picked up tbe earthquake-pre¬
diction beat. Several months ago
Mama Cass recorded'CaUfornla
Earthquake" complete with dis¬
aster broadcasts and earth
tremblings.
And now there Is "Day After
Day*. With a calypso beat, the
song foresees CaUfornla'a doom
like this: 'Day after day more
people come to LA. Shh, don't
you t*U anybody the whole place
is supping away (later in the song
the place i* -shaking away*).
Where can we go when there's no
San Francisco (later lt Is «san
Diego'/? Shh, bettor gat ready to
prophesy: 'Heavy rains, oil upon
the water before the (Udal) wave."
The reference here Is to to* oil
slick off the coast of Southern
CaUfornla.
quake the ground generally moves
no mora than 10-20 feet; even In
the 1906 San Francisco earth-        ,
quake the ground moved only 21 f
feet from toe quake's epicenter.
Most scientists agree, Mack
said, that because strain is con¬
tinually building up In to* San
Andreas Fault, lt is ■reasonably
ready* to let loose with a 'vio¬
lent quake.* But again Mack em-
(Conttnued on Page 5, Col. 1)
amount ot confidence that within
a matter of decades a somewhat
disastrous qnake will occur
somewhere in toe San Andreas
Fault,' Mack said.
But th* difference between this
•prediction* and those of the
mystic* Is what Rlehter calls In
the disaster office booklet 'pru¬
dent foresight.'
•Prudent foresight is not pre¬
diction when lt recognizes that
there will certainly be destruc¬
tive earthquakes in California In
the future,' Rlehter explained.
■Where earthquakes have hap¬
pened in the past, they may be
expected in the future... We can
tell to some extent where earth¬
quakes may be expected, but not
'The danger Is real,* he con¬
tinued, 'and you may find your¬
self Involved In a destrucUve"
earthquake   five   minutes   from
But even if there Is a severe
quake on the San Andrew Fault,
there would be no spUtting off of
part of the continent as the pre¬
dictors say.
•No such geological cataclysm
as envisioned by tha prophets has
occurred. .. so there is no rea¬
son to suppose that this will hap¬
pen,* Mack said. 'There is no
geological analogous (never has
off following an earthquake). . .
This U an lmpoaalblllty.*
Strong earthquakes do open
cracks   in toe ground,  Rlehter
(Fresno Is 100 miles from toe
fault), the posstbUlUes are mi.
Mack said that Fresno would ex¬
perience only minor vibrations
ttnl*** the quake is directly
across from Fresno, and then
there would be only minor dam¬
age here.
^0^"^ Publication post.
•The idea that the ground may AppUcaUons for editor of Back-
open up and swallow people and wash, the campus Uterary maga-
houses is old but untrue, 'Rlehter zine, and the Dally CoUeglan are
stated in bis booklet. '(And) toe available in theStudentAcUvltles
chance of being hurt (by stum- Office.
bling or failing into suchacrack) AppUcaUons must be returned
la much less than the chance of to to* Student Activities Office
'  being struck by Ughtnlng.* by 9 a.m., April 21.
SENSATIONAL LOW PRICE
SO MUCH DIAMOND BEAUTY
DIAMOND
RINGS
K..5MP   300.00 1
I If you buy this ring anywhere • I
for lest, your money will boll
cheerfully refunded! H
Ralttmh^
f RESNO'S UUtOIST JCWIUtS
ISmML 1 «8BB»
M7-2101 229-8511
Thuraday, April 10. 1969    THE DAILY COLLEGIAN    3
Valley bands will compete
in seventh annual festival
Th* Seventh Annual Stag* Band   ' 'klx* band,  c
FesUval  wUl be held Saturday
In to*   CoUege   Union   Lounge
starting at 9:30 a.m. form in to* afternoon.
This Is toe first Ume that the Tbe   festival is spot
fesUval Is being held ai Fresno to* FSC and Reedley CoUege mu-
State      CoUege.     participating sic    department* and the M-V
bands ar* from Fresno, Madera, Music Co.   Dr. John H. Martin,
Caruthers   and   McLane      High FSC professor of music, is to*
Schools, and to* CoUege of the coordinator of the event.
Sequoias, Reedley CoUege, Fres- There is no admission charge
no City CoUege, and FSC. for to* festival it is open to to*
In addition to these band*, a pubUc.
Apollo
"MARKET
WHERE YOU BUY FOR LESS
EVERY DAY!
SPECIALS EFFECTIVE I
THURS.-FRI.'SAT.iSUN.
1X1
OF CEDAR t SHAW
ACROSS FROM FRESNO STATE,
3iT
CENTER CUT EASTERN PORK
PORK CHOPS 69
LANGENOORF —  ^ ._
COOKIES i 4°99c
PRODUCERS REAL
ORANGE JUICE 39
KRAFT   100% PURE
SALAD OIL
59
n
OT. BOTTLE
STRAWBERRIES
4°99'
KERN'S SLICED FROZEN
10 OZ. CAN
REAL WHIP £99'
^R'nTg"       |
WHERE YOUR DOU.AB BUYS JUST A I.TTIE BIT MOKE