Unlike the fictional Indiana, there is a real-life Dr. Jones and her name is Lucy. Dave talks to seismologist and disaster preparedness expert Lucy Jones. For decades, Jones has been a major TV outlet fixture whenever a major earthquake strikes in the west, particularly Southern California. Jones was one of the drivers behind the Great California ShakeOut simulation which began in 2008. Designed to prepare the LA area for the inevitable Big One on the San Andreas Fault, the program has been seen as so valuable that it has been used around the country, most notably in the Pacific Northwest.
After Jones retired from the United States Geological Survey in 2016, she founded The Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society where she is currently producing Getting Through It, a podcast dealing with how we can cope with disasters from earthquakes and wildfires to global pandemics.