What Would a Magnitude 7.8 Feel Like? ABSTRACT: As a member of the USGS’s Multi-Hazards Initiative, this summer I developed a tool that will help southern Californians understand what it would be like to experience the M7.8 ShakeOut Scenario earthquake at different intensities of shaking and distances from the fault. First, I gathered real earthquake footage from around the world. I attempted to ascertain exactly where the earthquake footage was taken in relation to the earthquake source. Then, I matched the footage location as precisely as I could to an intensity level on the USGS ShakeMap for the earthquake. Next, I matched the shaking intensity for the footage location with the intensities of the M7.8 scenario ShakeMap. The ShakeOut Scenario earthquake produces intensity levels IX & X near and far from the fault, and the types of seismic waves that cause these levels of intensity are of different frequency and duration. I wanted to capture all this variation. I obtained a lot of earthquake footage that depicted close-to-the-fault, high-frequency, short-duration shaking that resulted in intensity levels of VIII & IX, which I matched to near-fault locations in the ShakeOut Scenario. I also QuickTime™ and a Photo - JPEG decompressor are needed to see this picture. Scenario M7.8 ShakeMap, Southern California Nov 13 2008 Intensity IV - X Aftermath: Beichuan, China Low-frequency, Long- duration Beijing 1,537km from epicenter High-frequency, Short-duration Mountainous region outside Chengdu QuickTime™ and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture Robert J. Leeper III USGS / Cerritos College Lars Y. Perry-Huston Cresenta Valley High School QuickTime™ and a Photo - JPEG decompressor are needed to see this picture. Chengdu University Location is not on ShakeMap USGS Project Advisors Sue Perry & Dr. Lucile Jones When I came across earthquake footage that I could apply to my project, I tried to find out as much as I could regarding the date of the earthquake and its location. I read the comments posted with the video and if I needed more information I contacted the person who posted the video: Initial investigative email re. earthquake in Barbados: Hello Chad@#%ck828. Do you know what earthquake the pool footage was from? Maybe the date of the earthquake? Thanks, Robert Response received from Chad@#%ck828: I don’t know what caused it but i know the date.(29,November,2007) Once I had the date of the earthquake I went to the USGS ShakeMap website and looked for an earthquake that occurred on that date in Barbados. It turned out that the footage was taken 270km QuickTime™ and a None decompressor are needed to see this picture. QuickTime™ and a None decompressor are needed to see this picture. M7.9 ShakeMap Sichuan, China May 12 2008 Intensity: V - X obtained earthquake footage that demonstrated low-frequency, long- duration shaking that resulted in intensity levels of I & II, which I matched to far off locations for the Scenario. However, footage taken far from the fault rupture that demonstrated low-frequency, long- duration seismic shaking of intensity levels of IX & X was very difficult to secure. After collecting and interpreting footage, I used Google Earth Pro and iMovie to bring it all together. Assisted by Lars Y. Perry-Huston, I created a flyby movie in Google Earth Pro and edited it in iMovie, incorporating and narrating the earthquake footage I had collected from the Internet. This produced an accurate depiction of types of shaking that can be expected at various locations in the M7.8 Scenario earthquake. A future step will be to create an on-line database of the footage that includes earthquake parameters.