I am reading Fault Line by Sarah Andrews, first published in 2002. Ms. Andrews writes a mystery series with the main character, Em Hansen, a geologist as the amateur sleuth. This book is set in Salt Lake City, and has a lot to do with earthquakes. I would not think of Salt Lake City and earthquakes, but they have the Wasatch Fault https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasatch_Fault, so there you have it. The concern about an earthquake during the 2002 Olympics was noted http://www.sltrib.com/home/3791904-155/new-earthquake-study-says-utah-is. There was none, not during, not before, so the premise in the book is pure fiction, but it is interesting.
This article was recently published about the earthquake risk in Salt Lake City http://www.sltrib.com/home/3791904-155/new-earthquake-study-says-utah-is. It addresses some of the political issues that the book references.
One of the points made in the book is the difference between event probability and event risk. I have noticed a change in the way weather events are being forecast. I am not sure when this changed, but it has. Now, when there is a weather event, the forecasters on NBC http://www.nbc.com/ and The Weather Channel https://weather.com/ talk not so much about event probability but event risk. The definition: is this event going to happen, vs. how many people are going to be impacted. The latter is more dramatic, for sure. I am not sure if it makes more sense to broadcast this way. Except, reading the book, you appreciate the fact that event probability is not exact science while risk is estimated numbers if it does happen, and that is the real concern.
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