Earthquake Predictions

The month of May passed without a catastrophic earthquake in Los Angeles or elsewhere in California. I believe that the self-appointed psychics, prophets, and seers who predicted an earthquake would occur then should be held accountable for their irresponsible and unfounded comments.

Here at Griffith Observatory, since last fall, we have been uncomfortably aware that such prognostications are not harmless parlor games. We received thousands of telephone inquiries and hundreds of letters from the public, who were understandably upset and often terrified by these predictions. On May 5, after “Eye on L.A.” broadcast an entirely erroneous report about planetary alignment and an impending Southern California earthquake, hundreds of genuinely panicked people called the observatory for verification and advice.

Even if we judge that adults are, in general, responsible for reaching their own conclusions about baseless predictions of earthquakes, young children who are exposed to the issue through television and other sources are not in a position to evaluate the validity of these claims. I have received numerous reports about the heightened anxiety of entire classrooms of young children because of the recent earthquake scare.

Those who predicted an earthquake in Los Angeles for May, claiming astrological or psychic sources of information, caused real emotional disruption and damage to the lives of thousands, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of individuals. To me, their statements are the equivalent of crying “Fire!” in a crowded theater and a dreary misuse of the right of free speech.

E.C. KRUPP

Director

Griffith Observatory

Los Angeles