U.S. Geological Survey

I am outraged with a proposal to do away with the U.S. Geological Survey (Dec. 6), especially after still feeling the effects of the recent Northridge earthquake.

I regularly wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after dreaming another large quake has struck. I cannot describe the terror that this causes, the pain and the horror associated with it. I have friends and family members who tell me the same thing is happening to them. Many of them still haven’t even completed repairs on their homes.

Ohio GOP Rep. John Kasich’s idea to get rid of the Geological Survey makes no sense at all. The agency has many research projects under way, including studies to one day predict quakes. Other work involves an early-warning system based on ground sensors that alerts a population. This agency has as one of its main missions to help us understand more about quakes. No other agency performs such a function. If we can better understand these terrible geological events, we could save lives and billions of dollars in property damage.

Finally, it would be wrong for Kasich and others to think that earthquakes are isolated to the West Coast. North America’s largest recorded quake hit the Eastern portion of the continent, not the West, as most people would assume.

JEFF DANIELS

Northridge