Or maybe they just haven’t a clue how it all works–

In these dreams, the Northern California earth that I walked on was the consistency of Doritos, which would crumble under my feet as I tried to run to nonexistent solid ground. I’d always fall through the chips and drown in the muddy guacamole below.

So earthquakes happen because the plates want to move but the surface is locked in place, so energy builds until it is enough to crack the surface and move all at once. (Otherwise there would just be a gentle, constant slide.) So there is always energy building, and that energy will be released sooner or later. If the energy is released in a series of small quakes, people feel a rumble but nothing bad happens. If it’s released all at once, people die.

Catchings says it’s bad the recent quakes weren’t closer to the San Andreas because they could have “allowed it to release some stress.” True enough. But Walters takes the very strange tack that it’s a good thing it didn’t disturb that San Andreas because “it’s not going to unlock gently.” Well of course it’s not going to unlock gently! And the longer it goes undisturbed, the more un-gently it’s going to unlock!

Everyone in California should be praying for a San Andreas quake tomorrow, because every day after tomorrow would be worse. And the best-case scenario would be a lot of little quakes, like these, on the San Andreas, gradually letting off the stress that’s built up. Walter’s approach seems to amount to hoping the dam breaks sometime after he’s fled the state.