Natural Disasters and Hazards: Are we truly ready?

“Mr. Speaker, from hurricanes and floods in Latin America to earthquakes in Asia, natural disasters are increasingly becoming a regular feature of life for large numbers of people around the globe.”

- Earl Blumenauer

 

The recent earthquakes in Japan was one of the worst in the past decade. Although the asiesmic designed buildings proved to be effective and sturdy, it was no match for the secondary impact -the tsunami- which had a larger effect on Japan.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/earthquakes/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12722187

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12748215

To aid your understanding on the relationship between earthquakes and tsunamis:

With urbanisation taking place, many cities like Tokyo and Tehran have over  3 million people living there. With such cities lying along major fault lines, is there a method to predict large magnitude earthquakes like the recent Japan earthquake?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12792943

The importance of community in managing earthquakes:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-18/japanese-yakuza-aid-earthquake-relief-efforts/

http://www.facebook.com/notes/jun-shiomitsu/japan-quake-as-seen-from-twitter-translated-by-me-so-quality-questionable/10150121176733830)

This Japanese animation demonstrates the formation and path of a tsunami:

http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg850.html

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