earthquake (Page 13)

How to protect buildings from earthquake damage? Throw an invisibility cloak around them! New research shows that it is possible to develop an “invisibility cloak” to protect buildings from earthquakes. The seismic waves produced by earthquakes include body waves which travel through the earth and surface waves which travel across it. The new technology controls the path of surface waves which are the most damaging and responsible for much of the destruction which follows earthquakes.
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UPDATE…or maybe it’s the recent swarm of small quakes instead – The geologist who predicted the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 says another California quake is on the way?and SOON.Be thankful that someone new will be running FEMA soon!

The Ventura County Star quotes Jim Berkland as saying, “The first seismic window of the year is only a little less potent than last month’s, which had the strongest tidal forces since 1993.”
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It sure would be a relief for folks in California if they could predict the big one some OTHER way than looking for swarms of frogs. Soon they may be able to.

Researchers have found that stress-induced changes occurred in rocks a few hours before two small quakes in the San Andreas Fault area.

BBC News quotes researcher Paul Silver as saying, “If you had 10 hours’ warning, from a practical point of view, you could evacuate populations, you could certainly get people out of buildings, you could get the fire department ready. Hurricane [warnings] give you an idea of what could be done.”
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…like California? – China is relaxing its one-child policy for victims of the May 12 earthquake, which killed more than 65,000 people, many of them children. Close to 25,000 people are still missing. And a new study shows that large earthquakes routinely trigger smaller quakes worldwide, including on the opposite side of the planet, even in areas that do not usually have earthquakes.
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