Even the best earthquake early warning systems will give you only five to eight seconds of notice before you experience ground shaking. This week, Jonathan and geotechnical engineer Ashly Cabas take more than an hour exploring seismic waves, soils, risk assessment, and other earthquake fundamentals so that you can be prepared in the event of a natural hazard.

Ashly Cabas, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU), where she investigates seismic hazards and earthquake effects on civil infrastructure. 

Her team at NCSU collaborates with seismologists, geologists, and structural engineers to understand how the response of soils and rocks to earthquake loading can influence the damaging potential of earthquakes. 

Her research group’s work has also been recognized with EERI best paper awards in 2014 and 2018, and she has served in reconnaissance missions after the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska earthquake, and more recently the 2021 M7.2 Nippes, Haiti earthquake.

You can follow Professor Cabas on Twitter @amcabas, and keep up with her work at NCSU on Twitter @NCStateCCEE and on the Cabas Research Group site.

Want to learn more about earthquakes? Here are some recommended resources:

Seismological Society of America (SSA)

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)

American Society of Civil Engineers - GeoInstitute

US Geological Survey (USGS), Earthquake Hazards

Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure Cyberinfrastructure component, DesignSafe-CI

Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure Natural Hazards Reconnaissance component, RAPID

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS)

GeoHazards International (GHI)

ShakeAlert, Early Warning System

RaspberryShake Personal seismograph

NCSU Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN. 

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

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Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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