Putting a shield around a city to protect it from an earthquake, sounds like science fiction — but it’s something experts are seriously studying. A group of French scientists reportedly have made promising steps towards the development of a protective shield, which would clock a city from the most severe effects of a quake.
During an experiment, the scientists created a shield by “using several five-meter-deep boreholes in the ground. When a quake hits, the holes redirect vibrations to a less-populated nearby area so they’ll do less damage,” according to Engadget.
The problem with the shield idea is you really can’t direct earthquake vibrations to a neighboring city and be, ah, good neighbor. Directing the seismic waves to an unpopulated section of desert or even the ocean might be a better option, especially here in SoCal.
The preliminary findings in the lab were successful, opening the door to the possibility one day of having “… a way of mitigating the destructive effects of earthquakes.”
