Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Barger Motion Turns to Dr. Lucy Jones, Caltech, UCLA for County Earthquake Review

Unincorporated Altadena depends on the county emergency office that would carry out the assessment, working with Caltech and UCLA

Los Angeles County wants to know how ready it is for the next major earthquake. Under a motion from Supervisor Kathryn Barger, part of the answer would come from Pasadena.

Barger introduced the motion on Tuesday. It calls for a comprehensive review of County earthquake preparedness and directs County emergency officials to engage Dr. Lucy Jones, along with experts from Caltech and UCLA, to help shape readiness for the next major quake.

Jones is a visiting associate in geophysics at Caltech and founder of a Pasadena-based science center. Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory, where she has held an appointment since 1984, sits on East California Boulevard. 

Under the motion, that office would return to the Board of Supervisors on September 29, 2026 with a comprehensive assessment, the release said, evaluating County facilities, emergency personnel, continuity of government operations and critical infrastructure, and identifying gaps that must be addressed before a catastrophic seismic event. It would work with Jones and representatives from Caltech and UCLA so County planning reflects the latest seismic research and preparedness practices.

The release said the motion follows new scientific findings that tectonic strain along portions of the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems near the Cajon Pass has reached its highest level in at least 1,000 years, according to the statement frm Barger’s office.

Researchers stress that does not mean a major earthquake is imminent, the release added, but noted that accumulated seismic energy is released only through large earthquakes.

The study, published in June in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, was led by Liliane Burkhard of the University of Bern and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology. It describes Cajon Pass, in San Bernardino County, as an “earthquake gate” that may stop a rupture or let it cross both fault systems at once. Burkhard told CNN that a joint rupture at Cajon Pass could approach magnitude 7.4 to 7.8. 

Those faults are not the ones beneath Pasadena and Altadena, which sit above the Raymond and Sierra Madre fault systems.

“Science is sending us a clear warning and we have a responsibility to listen,” Barger said in the release. “No one can predict when the next major earthquake will occur, but we know with certainty that one will happen. Los Angeles County must engage the best scientific expertise available–including Dr. Lucy Jones–so that we’re not simply reacting after a disaster but preparing before lives, homes, and critical infrastructure are impacted.”

The county has not seen a large-scale, damaging earthquake since Northridge in 1994, the release said, describing it as claiming approximately 60 lives, injuring more than 9,000 people, displacing 20,000 residents and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage and economic losses. 

The motion also calls for a countywide earthquake preparedness initiative: an online “Know Your Risk” portal, a multilingual public education campaign leading up to The Great ShakeOut on October 15, and recommendations for sustained, year-round outreach to residents, businesses, schools and community organizations.