Shaking in Our Seats: Earthquake Science on the Big Screen (full event)

When it comes to accuracy in earthquake movies, Caltech professor of mechanical and civil engineering Domniki Asimaki observed, “The better the special effects get, the worse the movie gets.” Asimaki was part of a panel of researchers and public officials, moderated by seismologist Lucy Jones, that celebrated 100 years of Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory through a special event examining the science behind onscreen earthquakes.

Shaking in Our Seats: Earthquake Science on the Big Screen, was presented by the Caltech Science Exchange and the Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society on November 12, 2022. More than 450 people joined to watch clips—ranging from the absurd to the surprisingly accurate—from the films Earthquake and San Andreas and the TV movie The Great Los Angeles Earthquake. The experts discussed which scenes showed what could really happen during and after a major earthquake, which were movie madness, and what to do when the next one hits.

To read more about the legacy and future of the Caltech Seismological Lab, visit https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltechs-seismo-lab-celebrates-100-years-at-the-forefront-of-earthquake-science.

To learn more about how earthquakes work, visit the Caltech Science Exchange: https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/earthquakes?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=cseearthquakes