Fukushima: One Man’s Story

It was Japan’s worst nightmare: an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown. Two years on, the fallout has left the people facing up to some inconvenient truths… A story by Henry Tricks, for The Economist.

Canadian Quake Refines Pacific Tsunami Risk

A study of the magnitude-7.7 earthquake that shook the northern coast of British Columbia, Canada, last October has solved a longstanding argument about the region’s geology. The finding suggests that even Pacific islands as far away as Hawaii might need to worry about tsunamis originating from this part of the Canadian coast.

Seismic Gap Outside of Istanbul

Earthquake researchers have now identified a 30 kilometers long and ten kilometers deep area along the North Anatolian fault zone just 15 to 20 kilometers south from the historic city center of Istanbul, that could be the starting point for a strong earthquake.

The Making of The Hyogo2 Disaster Prevention Treaty

A month after the Indian Ocean tsunami struck in December 2004, affecting millions, 168 countries signed on to a 10-year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards (HFA). While the HFA has helped countries reduce the loss of human lives, the economic consequences of natural disasters have continued to rise. For three consecutive years, natural hazards have cost the world more than US$100 billion a year.

GPS Solution Provides Three-Minute Tsunami Alerts

mark edward harris japan tsunami

Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset.