Submitted by jill on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 00:00
A basic homeowner’s insurance policy in the U.S. does not cover
earthquake related loss or damage. Although 90% of the country's
population lives in seismically active areas, only a fraction are
covered by earthquake insurance. Even in California, the majority of
the state’s homeowners opt out. A common perception is that earthquake
insurance costs too much and offers little coverage. But the problem of
earthquake risk is national: 38 other states face substantial
earthquake hazards, including 46 million people in metropolitan areas
Submitted by jill on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 00:00
Thousands of people in the Vanch region of Tajikistan are homeless
in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude 5.3 earthquake. The quake caused
massive damage, even though its size is considered “moderate.” Major
damage and/or outright collapse of roughly 1,050 mudbrick homes in the
wake of the quake have left 20,000 people without shelter. Two schools
and a clinic were also destroyed, and electricity supplies and
communications were cut off by the quake. The quake came as the Central
Asian nation is approaching its coldest time of the year, with
temperatures going down to -20 degrees Celsius.
Submitted by jill on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 00:00
More than a million earthquakes worldwide occur
each year. That’s about two earthquakes a minute. More than 900 of
those are potentially damaging (magnitude 5 or greater) earthquakes.
With OpenHazards.com tools, you can learn more about where those damaging earthquakes are likely to strike, and make decisions about whether and how to prepare.
Submitted by jill on Tue, 12/22/2009 - 00:00
Data collection, storage and retrieval are vital
functions of any modern business, large or small. In the United States,
99% of roughly 29.6 million businesses are small firms (fewer than 500
employees). We would expect that most of the country’s 18,000 large
corporations to have hardened data facilities with bullet-proof
business continuity plans – and given the high level of reliance on
data integrity, that small businesses would follow suit. But that’s not
necessarily the case. For example, Symantec recently published the
Submitted by jill on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 00:00
The Open Hazards Group accurately predicted the damaging earthquake
that struck Taiwan Saturday evening at 9:02 pm. A screen shot of the
forecast shows the openhazards.com forecast details. The contour plot
shows earthquake probability and the blue marker depicts the epicenter
of the actual quake. The forecast was posted to our website before the
earthquake occurred. An aftershock forecast will be available on our
website after midnight California time when our site updates worldwide
forecasting.
Submitted by jill on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 00:00
Here's our first update on the December 19, 2009
Taiwan earthquake: OpenHazards Group, Inc. has translated reports from
the China Times, which features excerpts from other Chinese newspapers.
Submitted by john on Wed, 12/09/2009 - 00:00
The annual meeting of the American Geophysical
Union in San Francisco has been a part of my life for over 35 years.
Held annually in December, the AGU meeting has grown from a small group
of several hundred scientists to a gathering of over 14,000 in that
span of time.
Submitted by jill on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 00:00
What do most modern motorcycles, cars, highway signs, some tall
buildings, domed arenas and modernist style industrial and commercial
buildings have in common? The space frame: a lightweight,
rigid frame made of interlocking bars or rods (struts). Arranged in a
geometric pattern, the struts in a space frame building provide
stability, strength and resistance to rotation or movement due to
external forces such as strong wind or ground motion.
Submitted by jill on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 00:00
An unreinforced masonry (URM) bearing wall
is a URM wall that provides vertical support for the floor or roof of a
structure. URM buildings are not strengthened (reinforced) with
embedded steel bars, which makes them extremely hazardous in
seismically active regions. Materials used in these kinds of buildings
are generally unreinforced adobe, clay, concrete or concrete block,
brick, or rubble. These buildings are popular all over the world, even
though they tend to collapse in strong earthquakes.
Submitted by john on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 00:00
The Santa Fe Institute looks out over the city of
Santa Fe. From the terrace on the south side of the old mansion, the
casual visitor is presented with a spectacular view of the Pojoaque
valley to the west.
Something about the dry thin air, the mountainside
setting of pinion and juniper, and the view to the distant Jemez
mountains encourages a mode of pensive contemplation and intellectual
self-renewal rarely felt in the sea-level world 7600 feet below.
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