Two Essential iPhone Apps for Earthquakes

We have had a flurry of earthquakes here in Southern California over the last 12 hours.

IMG_5978Want to know how many?

26 as of 11:30 PST 8/8/2012.

Think it’s time to share two essential iPhone apps for Earthquakes.

I’ve kept track of earth quakes ever since the San Andreas Fault North Ridge Quake (6.7m) of 1994. We rode that one out 50 miles away in Orange County. It was strong enough to collapse the scoreboard at Angel Stadium.

One story from that day has always stayed with me.  There was a LAPD motorcycle officer, Clarence Wayne Dean, who lived north of Los Angeles.  He drove south in the early morning darkness, wanting to be of aid. He knew a 6.7 earthquake for Los Angeles would cause serious damage. However, he did not realize that the Newhall Pass Interchange had collapsed below him. He was unable to stop in time to miss the 40 foot fall.  When the interchange IMG_5979was rebuilt again one year later, it was renamed the Clarence Wayne Dean Memorial Interchange in his honor. All I see in my mind’s eye, after any earth quake, is his Thelma and Louise send off. So tragic. Earthquakes make me worry.

Fast forward to today. When there is any type of seismic actively in my neck of the woods, I don’t know if it’s a small one (4.5) over the hill in Yorba Linda. Or a mac-daddy that we are just feeling it’s distant vibration. Will there be people trying to help like Officer Clarence? Shall we turn on the news?

So last night at 11:23pm when this flurry of Yorba Linda quakes began, with a solid 4.5, I reached for my iPhone.

quake watchQuake Watch essential app number one.
It is a reference guide to the latest magnitude 1.0 and larger earthquakes from around the world.  I can find out when quakes happen, where they happened, how big they were, and more.

World wide seismic activity along those tectonic plates. Thank you very much Ring-O-Fire. This view reports earthquakes over the past week. You can pan and zoom the map to focus on hot spots and click the details button to see the quake report.

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You can also filter out smaller earthquakes from the list by setting the minimum shown to be between 1.0 and 6.0.

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The green pin is the Yorba Linda earth quake last night.

Wait there is more:

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On this screen you may,

                • Sort the listing by the 100 most recent earthquakes.
                • Sort by the largest earthquakes over the past week.
                • Sort by the closest earthquakes to your location and see the distance and bearing from your position.
                • Select an earthquake from the list to view more information along with a Google map of its location.
                • Earthquakes within the last 2 hours and within your local range are colored blue for quick identification,
                • All times are shown in your time zone and dates use relative formats (Today, Yesterday).

This is how I’ve been in the know that there has been 26 earth quakes in the last 12 hours. Don’t get me wrong, I like this amount of quake activity. I would rather rock and roll to a swarm of small quakes than a huge one to relieve pressure off  faults here in Southern California.

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You can also track earthquakes to any specified place on the earth.  It will show the distance from any epicenter to your loved ones home. Great for tracking quakes near family members to make sure they are out of harms way.

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Lastly the tsunami icon. Select this icon in the toolbar for quick access to the NOAA for the latest tsunami information.

Pretty informative and essential huh?

Well, I have one more.

scanner5-0 Radio essential app number two

When you hear a siren and you’re dying to know where all the commotion is headed, there is an app for it. It’s great for other things, like earthquakes, too.

True story.

While returning home from a road trip, police where blazing down the I-15. We let them pass, all 3 black and whites, in a huge hurry. No matter, we were only discussing where to pull off for a bite to eat. Then I became curious. I hit the 5-0 app and began to listen in on the local San Bernardino Feed. There had been a shooting, ambulance reporting, with the suspected shooter on the lam. Sorry In-n-Out burger, today was not a good day to sit your drive thru with helicopters circling above.

5-0 Radio streams emergency services radio conversations from cities all over the world. You are able to tap into live police, firefighters, aircraft, railroad, marine, emergency, and ham radios. If there is an emergency or important news, events, you can be the first to know.

The free version is great, it includes most of the stations you will need. The pro version simply adds more radio stations.  The app is easy use. Important codes are given to you within the app. These codes help you interpret what the officers are conversing about. 10-4

This is an essential app friends, to know the word on the street in regards to earthquake emergency services, car chases and forest fires.

Price Tag $1.99 Pro Version

Keep those two essential iPhone Apps for earthquakes updated and stay safe friends.

Over and out,

kathleensignblack_thumb3

Comments

  1. Great post!

  2. I love this! Just got the app on my phone. Thanks Kathleen.
    Michelle recent posted..The possibilities are endless …

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