America's Most Widely Felt Earthquake
10year Anniversary of Virginia Earthquake
A decade ago today I was in a precarious position, literally. Standing on a ladder with a hard-hat! In the guts of a structure in the finishing stages of construction - there I stood, trying to keep my balance. The fire sprinkler pipes swaying from side to side, knocking me in the helmet. I noticed the ladder underneath me tottering along with it. I thought, what have they done to this place now?!
It was before the days of SMS alerts to our phones and it was some time before we got word that a 5.8 magnitude earthquake had struck some hundred miles from our site, in Louisa, Virginia.
Fast forward a decade and I’m the founder of a remote sensing company which is proud to have in its team scientists that were studying earthquakes, and their effects on infrastructure, since well before I was on that ladder. These days we are still hearing the tragic news from Haiti on the lives lost following the recent earthquake that devastated that country - also roughly ten years after the last such event there.
On this occasion I have the good fortune of being connected to the Emergency Response community where I see the stellar work of the team at NASA JPL which has processed the areas of potential destruction to Haiti using much the same research our team has built upon over the years.
Image from USGS, click to see more
Click to learn more about NASA’s work assisting the Haitian earthquake 2021
We have learned much in this time; in fact, the satellites forming the recent JPL work - the Sentinel 1 twins - were not even in orbit when the Virginia quake struck.
There are more and more clever advanced remote sensing techniques, and teams globally ready, and able to support response and recovery. Many of them powered by the software that we at EO59 have been developing over the years - SarProZ. And yet, the question remains on what the role should be of the remote sensing industry in a repeat of the event of a decade ago? It’s not solely your product that advances society and its robust ability to respond and recover - it is our advocacy for preparedness and the determination to continuously improve the systems and industry we are a part. EO59 will be here, advancing the tools, science, and community that stands ready to answer the call.
This next time, I’ll not be up a ladder - but right here, rooting for the governments, the people, bringing the most advanced systems we have helped build, to bear in our times of greatest need.