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Earthquakes

They're fast, they're deadly, and they happen when you least expect it. But will we ever be able to avoid the devastations of an earthquake?

Posted by Tormod Guldvog
28 December, 2004 12:12:04

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Recent earthquakes have rocked the world with their sheer size and power. With death tolls in the tens of thousands - often within a few minutes - a large quake can wipe entire cities and regions off the map.

Modern seismologists are working on a classic problem: how to predict an earthquake. Many theories and practical applications exist, but so far nobody seems to be able to give an advance warning early enough for an area to be evacuated.

Related Links

9.0 Earthquake off the coast of Northern Sumatra
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/
Preliminary and updated information about the earthquake which caused the deadly tsunami which has killed tens of thousands of people in Indonesia and surrounding countries

Nevada Seismological Laboratory
http://www.seismo.unr.edu/
The NSL perform seismic research worldwide. Their web site has plenty of information about earthquakes, survival information, seismology information and more.

Forces of Nature
http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/
A wonderful web site about natural disasters, including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and more. There are lists of the worst disasters of different kinds, with death tolls. And make sure you check out their simulations!

Institute for Crustal Studies
http://quake.ucsb.edu/
The home pages of the Institute for Crustal Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. They have lots of research information about Earth's crust and earthquakes.

Federal Emergency Management Agency
http://www.fema.gov/
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a website full of information on earthquakes, quake prevention, disaster help and response

National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering
http://nisee.berkeley.edu/
Earthquake engineering is a way to study how to reduce the impact of earthquakes, by improving the safety of buildings and structures

Make-a-Quake Earthquake Simulator
http://dsc.discovery.com/anthology/unsolvedhistory/earthquake/interactive/interactive.html
This simulator is published by the Discovery Channel, as part of the Great Quakes web site. You need a Flash plugin

Life Along the Faultline
http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/
The Exploratorium has a great web site about earthquakes, subtitled Life and Science in Eartquake Country. Check it out!

Earthquake Prediction Information
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/SEIS/PNSN/INFO_GENERAL/eq_prediction.html
An article by the US Geological Survey which explain the problems of predicting earthquakes accurately.

Current World Seismicity
http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/current/world.html
The National Earthquake Information Center at USGS has a web page with a global map showing the most recent earthquake activity.