Web feeds California quake paranoia

Most people born and raised in the Golden State don't give earthquakes a second thought. Constant hide-under-your-desk earthquake drills in elementary school and relatively frequent middle-grade tremors have done wonders for desensitizing most of us.

But for those who still feel the daily fear, the Web has a few new tools to keep you up-to-date on the state's rumblings. One that everyone in North America can enjoy is one of the many projects private Web developers have come up with since Google released its mapping tool. It layers information on earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or higher over Google's map of North America. The U.S. Geological Survey already has a great site that tracks every quake almost immediately, but the new Google tool is nice because it limits the map to shakes large enough to actually be felt by people in the area.

Those who are more concerned about when "the big one" might hit will want to check out a new online service launched by the USGS that forecasts the chance of earthquakes in California. That's right. Now conscientious Californians can check the weather, traffic and earthquake reports before heading out the door in the morning. The tool shows a map of the state, color-coded to show areas with a higher chance of experiencing an earthquake. But don't race for the nearest doorway just because you see a red spot in your area. Even the USGS' announcement of the service says the probability of quakes occurring in high-warning areas is low. The site will be most useful in predicting aftershocks to major quakes that have already happened, according to their announcement. If the site proves to be as reliable as our local meteorologists, we at CNET News.com's San Francisco, Calif., headquarters should probably bring our umbrellas just in case, and crawl out from under our desks.