Earth-quack Coverage

I am no expert when it comes to earthquakes and seismology, however I consider myself more educated on the science than the average bear. I am fascinated by seismology and have read several books concerning the subject. I even break out old text books from time to time. So it is only natural I get a little "rattled" when I hear a national news outlet give wrong information concerning earthquakes, no matter how trivial it is.

CNN's coverage of the quake in Haiti has been non-stop the past two days. During this time, they have interviewed everyone they can round up. The first night of coverage, they kept going to CNN's chief meteorologist to discuss the earthquake and to get his expert opinion on what Haiti can expect in the coming weeks. This is where my problem begins.

First, why is a meteorologist the in-house expert on earthquakes. Shouldn't they find a seismologist to speak with. I understand it is all "Earth Science", but I wouldn't call the fire department when someone was breaking into my home. They may all be emergency services, but unless the Wicked Witch of the West is busting into my flat, that fire hose won't do much good.

The meteorologist began discussing the type of waves created during and earthquake; P-waves and S-waves. He used an analogy for P-waves, comparing them to train cars bumping into each other. The first car bumps the second car, which then causes that car to bump into the third car, and so on. Fine. P-waves, or primary waves are also called compression waves.

The problem I had is when it came to describing the S-waves. He again used an analogy, but this time he used a jump rope. If you lay the jump rope on the ground, grab one end, and swish it side to side, you create a 'S' type wave. He said the wave is called and S-Wave because it looks like an 'S.' I admit, I yelled at the TV when he said this. In the grand scheme of things I understand this is isn't important, but this was a paltry explanation that sounded as if he made it up on the spot. S-waves, or transverse waves, are secondary waves. So, in review, a P-wave is a primary wave and a S-wave is secondary wave. It's not called 'S' because it looks like an 'S.'

I know this is trivial and doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it bothered me.