Readers React: California is overdue for a big earthquake? Tell us something we don’t know

To the editor: We are overloaded with news of earthquakes, tornadoes and floods. Just this week, the Sierra Nevada was making headlines. I live in Mammoth Lakes, on the side of a dormant volcano, on the rim of the Long Valley Caldera. Apparently, we (and everyone else living in the eastern Sierra) are about 30 years overdue for a rather large earthquake. (“Major earthquake overdue in California’s Eastern Sierra, study finds,” April 19)

Here’s a news flash for those of you who don’t know how our planet works: It moves. All the time. For billions of years our planet has moved and blown and eroded and twisted and flooded itself into the shapes we see today. Humans decided to build cities in the areas of our planet that have always had quakes and storms. If your house tumbles off the cliff or is torn apart, sorry. You’re the one who decided to move where Mother Nature has done her dance for longer than humans have been a species.

My mother worries about such things, as she should. She lives in Century City and said to me recently, “I hope the earthquake doesn’t happen while you’re here.” I replied, “Me too, but I live on the side of a volcano that spurts hydrogen sulfide into the air and is killing trees near our house, so....”

If you’re worried about when the next earthquake is going to happen in your town, don’t. The Earth will snap when it’s ready and not a minute sooner.

Stacey Powells-Lyster, Mammoth Lakes

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