The largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history takes place Nov. 13. The Great Southern California ShakeOut will start with a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault – one approximately 5,000 times larger than the magnitude 5.4 earthquake that shook us on July 29 – and follow up with other activities to help individuals and institutions prepare for the inevitable “big one.” According to ShakeOut organizers, some 4.6 million people have signed up to participate. UC Irvine experts on earthquakes and earthquake response are available for interviews.

Finding faults and forecasting shakers
Lisa Grant Ludwig, public health professor, identifies and studies active faults – such as the San Andreas – to quantify their potential for generating large earthquakes. She helped develop the scenario for the Great ShakeOut and studies the record of past earthquakes to help forecast future ones. Grant Ludwig’s research on earthquake occurrence patterns is applied to forecasting, land-use planning, building design, risk assessment, disaster preparedness planning and public education about the earthquake threat. Contact Lisa Grant Ludwig at 949-824-2889 or lgrant@uci.edu. More on Grant Ludwig: http://today.uci.edu/Features/profile_detail.asp?key=402

Hospitals and the “big one”
Dr. Carl Schultz, professor of emergency medicine at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, is an internationally recognized expert on the medical response to large-scale disasters, such as the one presented in the Great ShakeOut scenario. He can discuss challenges the emergency medical system will face – both initially and long term. This includes fundamental changes healthcare providers must make in delivery of patient care to meet the incredible demand – especially if hospitals must close and evacuate patients. Schultz is the first author of an article in New England Journal of Medicine looking at challenges Southern California hospitals faced after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Contact Schultz at 714-506-1760.

Coming to the ResCUE
Sharad Mehrotra, computer science professor, directs Project ResCUE, which stands for Responding to Crises and Unexpected Events. Project researchers study ways to enhance emergency responders’ ability to gather, manage, use and disseminate information to other responders and to the public. Mehrotra also researches Internet technology and systems software. Contact Mehrotra by calling Shellie Nazarenus at 949-824-9622 or snaz@uci.edu. Additional contact: Jason Mednick at 949-824-5951 or jmednick@uci.edu

The HIPerWall and emergency response
Stephen Jenks, electrical engineering and computer science assistant professor, is expanding the capabilities of the Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall at Calit2. The HIPerWall is one of the world’s highest-resolution, grid-based displays for visualizing and manipulating massive sets of data. The 50-panel, 23-foot-by-9-foot wall provides a resolution of 200 million pixels that bring to life biomedical images, climate datasets and geographical data. New software developed at UCI also is allowing the wall to transform enormous medical datasets into rotating, three-dimensional images. Researchers used the wall to display satellite and aerial images of New Orleans pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina, advancing research that one day will allow emergency responders to react to crises more quickly. Contact Jenks by calling Shellie Nazarenus at 949-824-9622 or snaz@uci.edu. Additional contact: Jason Mednick at 949-824-5951 or jmednick@uci.edu