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Statewide Drill Thursday Will Test Quake Preparedness

MENLO PARK (KCBS) - The Great California ShakeOut will be held this coming Thursday. The statewide drill will include participation from KCBS as the Emergency Alert System Station for the Bay Area.

120 scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park are researching earthquakes, why they happen, and if they can be predicted.

Tom Broker, the Director of the Survey's Earthquake Science Center, says there are very few detectors that go deep enough below the Earth's surface.

"In the future we may very well be able to predict earthquakes, but it's a problem because earthquakes start down around four or five miles in the Earth," said Broker.

There is a two out of three chance that a 6.7 magnitude or larger earthquake will happen in the Bay Area within the next 30 years according to Broker.

Broker added that a quake of that size would be significantly damaging and would impact our lives for "days if not weeks."

"We should be making sure that we have survival kits that have our food and water, but also any other special needs that we have." Broker was referring to medicines and pet supplies.

Those kits should help us be prepared to be on our own for up to three days.

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