Why Earthquake Monitoring?

Each year there are several thousand earthquakes throughout the world. There are about 60 each day in California alone! With the grown population and infrastructure (high-rises, bridges, apartments, pipelines, comminucation towers, etc.) earthquakes pose a greater hazard to our lives and comminuties than ever before. A few hundred years ago, even large earthquakes could go unnoticed but even now a small earthquake is often felt by thousands of people.