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(MCT) WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – California has virtually no chance of escaping a major earthquake… (MCT) WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – California has virtually no chance of escaping a major earthquake during the next three decades, according to scientists.

A new statewide forecast released Monday puts the probability at 99.7 percent for a quake of at least magnitude 6.7, the size of the 1994 Northridge quake that killed 72 people, sometime before 2037.

“It’s near certainty that we’re going to have a potentially damaging earthquake somewhere in the region in the next 30 years,” said geophysicist Ned Field of the U.S. Geological Survey.

This is the first time a forecast has been put together for the entire state using the same methods, so that risks for different parts of the state can be compared.

The study shows that Southern California’s risk is slightly higher for a magnitude 6.7 or greater, at 97 percent, compared to Northern California’s 93 percent.

For quakes of magnitude 7.5 or greater, the odds are tipped more toward Southern California at 37 percent versus 15 percent in Northern California.

The work is the result of a joint effort between the USGS, the California Geological Survey and the Southern California Earthquake Center.

“In development of the building code, this new seismic hazard estimate will be used to ensure that the buildings and infrastructure are designed to consider the appropriate level of ground motion,” said engineering geologist Chris Wills of the California Geological Survey.

The new forecast will also be used as a basis for seismic hazard maps that CGS produces to designate areas that are at risk for landslides and liquefaction in an earthquake. Any new development in these areas must get a licensed geologist to evaluate the hazard and mitigate the risk in the construction.

“Two faults that we are particularly concerned about with respect to high probabilities are the southern San Andreas and the Hayward-Rogers Creek,” Field said. “Both have elevated probabilities relative to their long-term averages.”

The northern San Andreas relieved a lot of stress on Bay Area faults during the 1906 earthquake. The stress has built up again however, and there is a 63 percent risk of a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake in the Bay Area over the next three decades.

The southern San Andreas hasn’t had a major jolt in more than 300 years, and that fault alone has a 59 percent probability of a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake by 2037. -By Betsy Mason Contra Costa Times

(MCT) CHICAGO – For many of the 255 million Americans with cell phones, the gadgets are indispensable for everything from tracking appointments to taking photographs to telling time. Now, advertisers want their piece of the mobile phone.

As consumers increasingly use their handsets to browse the Internet, it’s no wonder that advertisers see mobile screens as valuable turf. In the United States, cell phones haven’t yet proved to be the same kind of advertising bonanza as the Internet, mostly because of the wireless industry’s more controlled nature and the slower adoption of text messaging and mobile Internet services.

But momentum is gradually building, especially behind text-based marketing campaigns.

According to research firm eMarketer, worldwide spending on mobile advertising totaled $2.7 billion last year and is expected to hit $4.6 billion in 2008, rising to $19.1 billion by 2012. In contrast, eMarketer projects that Internet advertising in the United States alone will reach $25.9 billion this year.

Mobile advertising takes many forms. Banner ads run on the web pages displayed in cell phone browsers, and consumers can either click on those ads or “click to call” a phone number associated with the promotion. Companies can push so-called premium content such as ring tones and wallpapers, often associated with entertainment brands.

Some industry observers credit reality television hit “American Idol” with introducing mobile interaction to a wide audience when it debuted in 2002, encouraging viewers to cast votes via text message.

There is also message-based marketing, where consumers may be strolling by a billboard or watching a television commercial that encourages them to text a code to a number to receive a coupon or enter a sweepstakes.

According to eMarketer, this ad category is the largest by far for mobile phones and will reach $4.2 billion in 2008. -By Wailin Wong Chicago Tribune