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SDSU Device Simulates Earthquakes

San Diego State University has created a machine that can simulate a 9.0 earthquake. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce tells us what's shaking and why it's important.

SDSU Device Simulates Earthquakes

(Photo: SDSU Unveils New Earthquake “Shaking Table.” The table is used by the school’s structural engineering lab as a teaching and research tool. Ed Joyce/KPBS News )

San Diego State University has created a machine  that can simulate a 9.0 earthquake. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce tells us what's shaking and why it's important.

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Officials at San Diego State University showed off their "shaking table" which can recreate the exact motion of any previous earthquake. 

The table simulated an 8.0 magnitude quake to see if a large piece of medical equipment could survive.

Engineering Professor Robert Dowell says the test showed the medical device would continue to work properly after such a quake. 

Dowell says the shaking table is used to help engineers understand how earthquakes affect buildings and the stuff inside them.

Dowell: The shaking table is going to change seismic codes of buildings and building components in California, as well as across the world and the United States.

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Dowell and SDSU students built the indoor shaking table which is also used as a teaching tool in the school's structural engineering lab.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.