THE bye CALIFORNIA ECH VOLUME 86 PASADENA, CALIFORNIA I FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1985 NUMBER 16 Feature Kerry Sieh Quakes Chariots, Camels and Baxter Audience by Charles Barrett dreas fault of 140 to 150 years. The Biplanes Caltech Associate Professor of fact that the last major slippage was Geology Kerry E. Sieh addressed in 1857, 128 years ago, means that by Ketan Shah the subject of "Earthquakes and Southern California is due for a The athletic facilities and fields Volcanic Hazards" before a group major quake in the next several where the contemporary Caltech of secondary students, teachers, decades, if not sooner. Different student plays in a heroic effort to and interested members of the models discussed by Dr. Sieh quote avoid being the proverbial dull public last Wednesday afternoon, different statistics, but statistics are boy, Jack (all work and no play February 6, in Baxter Lecture Hall. all that are currently available; makes Jack a dull boy), was dur­ Dr. Sieh's talk was the fourth these do not lend themselves to ing the early part of this century, ~ in the 1984-85 Lecture Series for thoughts ofevacuation in anticipa­ the site of impressive physical (5 Secondary Students program, tion ofan earthquake. They do lend achievements. And that does not § coordinated by Caltech Director of themselves to general public include the elephant-camel race. a: Secondary School Relations and preparedness, however. Alumnus Theodore C. Combs, : Special Student Programs Lee F. In addition to being more spec­ '27, has recently published Tour­ ..g Browne. tacular than earthquakes, volcanic nament Park-Pasadena Historic 9- California is no stranger to eruptions have proved to be at least Site-ealtech Treasure, in which Dr. Sieh listens to questions after his talk seismic activity, and this century a little more predictable. The erup­ he has recorded the history-making alone has been witness to signifi­ tion of Mount St. Helens in 1980 events that took place at that part cant loss oflife and property within was anticipated in the long term, of the Caltech campus south of the state as the result of earth- with the result that hundreds of California Boulevard and east of Housing Facts quakes. Yet really big earthquakes lives were probably saved. Wilson Avenue. That area now in­ by Susan Larson and ho~smg offic~ staff and facu~- (in the neighborhood ofan 8 on Dr. Attention is currently focused cludes Spalding Building (business (This is the second in a series ofar- ty housmg con~rrllttee .members IS Charles Richter'S scale) are, on the Long Valley Caldera region services), the Athletic Center and tides on issues concerning the ~~couraged. ~mce Mmges wants thankfully infrequent. The only one near Mammoth Lake, site of hun­ the athletic fields north and south standard of living of graduate to make thmgs better for all this century in California was the dreds of small earthquakes in re­ of the Center. students.) graduate student~," not only the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, cent years. The local topography That area is indeed, hallowed When moving to a new area, a ~mes able to o~~aI~ Caltech hous- and the last one along the Southern has displayed measurable "bul­ gorund. To use television sports person faces the sometimes dif- m~, the office. tn,~s to operate as California end of the San Andreas ging" of late, and intensive data commentators' parlance, Tourna­ ,ficult task offinding housing. This faIrly as pOSSIble. fault was in 1857. gathering has provided a wealth of ment Park is where Michigan job is even harder for graduate In September, 1984 rents for Needless to say, the potential information on the region's seismic 'trashed' Stanford 49-0 on students who must find rents within the off-campus houses and apart- for destruction is much higher in past and present. No conclusions or January 1, 1902, in the first New their stipend ranges. The Caltech m~nts were raised. A~c?rding to today's densely populated, in­ predictions have been made public Year's Day football game. Mr. housing office offers a variety of Mmges, ren~s were ongmally set dustrialized California than it was as yet as to the future activity ofthe Combs quotes the Pasadena News: services in order to make the when rents m the Pasadena area seventy-five or a hundred years area, however. "Several thousand Dutchmen and search for affordable housing were fairly low. Caltech rents ago. Any advances in earthquake Dr. Sieh's talk gave voluble in­ Britishers engage in several years easier for graduate students. sta~ed low over the ye~rs beca~se prediction could prove invaluable sight to the state of the geology. of bloody fighting for possession of Landlords may list apartments or mamtenance of the ll;mts was Ig- in terms ofsaving lives and proper­ The ability to compile statistics is agovernment and don't get an en­ houses with the housing office nored, under the prenuse that many ty, even if statistics only result in impressive, but ultimately it will be core. Twenty-two striplings argue listing service. This catalogue is of the houses would eventually be general preparedness and tougher short-term predictability that will for an hour over the progress along available to Caltech faculty, staff, torn down. In som~ cases rents building codes. prove most valuable. the ground ofan inflated pig's hide students, alumni, research fellows, were so low that Mmg~s and the Dr. Sieh's work at Pallet The Lecture Series for Secon­ and law-abiding citizens bound up and JPL staff and Huntington othe~s felt that stu~~nts m ~al.tech Creek, north of Los Angeles has dary Students is free and open to and down on the seats of their Library researchers. The housing housmg were recelvmg an mdIrect allowed insight into the chronology the public, with talks held on the trousers while demure maidens office also acts as a landlord for subsidy in comparison to their of slippage along the San Andreas first Wednesday of every month hammer plug hats down over the several types of Caltech-owned fellow students who faced higher Fault. Examination of layers of (except January); secondary ears of their escorts with housing. Pa~adena rents. When a new sediment in the creekbed using car­ students interested in math and parasols. " Presumably, the The Institute owns graduate mamtenance ~rogram was begun, bon dating has yielded a seismic science are the target audience. The newspaper was comparing the dormitory buildings on Holliston, rents wer~ raised to cover costs. history going back centuries and next lecture is March 6, with Dr. game with the two Anglo-Boer the Catalina complex, as well as The ~ousmg office plans to set encompassing twelve major Jean-Paul Revel speaking on wars in southern Africa. apartments and single family rents m order to cover the cost of earthquakes. "How to See It All, No Matter With the purchase of Patton homes. 167 graduate students can ope~ation (salar!es, supplies, Analysis reveals an average in­ How Small." For further informa­ Field, later known as Tournament be housed in the dorms on eqUIpment, repaIrs, and loan terval between large earthquakes tion, contact Mr. Browne's office, Park, by the Tournament of Roses Holliston and 156 in the Catalina repayments). A reserve is also along that section of the San An- x6207. Association in 1901 (for the grand apartments. Approximately 180 maintaine~ for large-scale repairs. sum of $6,300), the Rose Parade students rent off-campus Caltech- .. In Apnl, 1~84, Nancy C:arlton cameto this part ofPasadena. Pat­ owned housing. About 65 ofthese Jomed t.he housm~ staffas dIrector ton Field was named after the fami­ students are married and about 25 ofhousmg, replacmg Robert Gang. ly of the not-yet-famous General have children. With graduate stu- Carlton has starte? a program to Zulu Chief Coming George S. Patton Jr., San Marino's dent enrollment just over 1000, this upgrade the COndItiOn. of all the very own World War II military means approximately one-half of Cal.tech re~tal propertI~s. and to hero. Caltech graduate students can live rev.lew.housmg of~ce polICIes. The While the park served as a ter­ in Institute-owned housing. waI~ lIst regulatIo~s .have been To Speak At Tech minus for the Rose Parade, it was Having the housing office as a cl~nfied, and the lIst IS curre!1tly also the site of the Tournament of landlord gives a graduate student ~emg updated. New c~fJ?et~ng, by Houston Horn dependence, Chief Buthelezi has Roses' New Year's festivities. several advantages, according to lInoleum, d~apes and mmIbl.mds Zulu Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, said, would be for the Zulus to sur­ After Stanford's ignominious Jim Minges, the head ofthe hous- are. now avaI1a?~e. Larger proJ~cts the leader of six million African render the South African citizen­ defeat in 1902, no worthy con­ ing office. The office has "active, to Improve wmng and plum?mg blacks and an outspoken advocate ship and thus forfeit any future tender was found for Michigan in professional level management," ar~ planned. New lounge furn~ture of non-violent settlement of South claim to a national political voice. 1903. Thus, the Park hosted a and students benefit by having an WIll be purchas~d for the HollIston Africa's apartheid policies, will ap­ Chief Buthelezi's strategy, he genteel match ofpolo. Chariot rac­ established housing office structure dorms, and Imp~ovements are pear as a distinguished speaker at says, is to work peacefully within ing, inspired by the best-selling to rely on, and by having some planned fo~ t~e VIlla apartme~ts.