Taiwanese investigators have arrested the developer of a 17-story apartment building that collapsed in an earthquake at the beginning of the month. Approximately 40 people were killed when the building collapsed, there were only two other deaths in the entire city. The charges are suspicion of criminal business misconduct resulting in fatalities. Mainland China has been notorious for shoddy construction practices, and those practices have been blamed for the death of thousands in Sichuan Province during the 2008 earthquake. [Source: The New York Times via Geoengineer.org. Image: Anthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images via NY Times]
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Sichuan Earthquake Update
[Updated May 30, 2008] I forgot to publish this post to the front page, whoops! The two links still have excellent information. In particular, Dave’s Landslide Blog has coverage of the many landslide lakes and the efforts to breach some of them. [/Update]
The latest numbers according to AFP, Worldwide News Agency, is 71,000 dead, missing or buried and over 5 million homeless. There were many victims that were buried by landslides and rockfall. In the past few days 200 rescue workers have been buried by mudslides.
For more coverage on landslides related to the earthquake, I recommend Dave’s Landslide Blog. Geology.com also has very comprehensive coverage as well. (AFP Photo)
Italian scientists convicted over earthquake warning
Tsunami evacuation buildings: another way to save lives in the Pacific Northwest
Boulder, CO, USA – Some time soon, a powerful earthquake will trigger a massive tsunami that will flood the Pacific Northwest, destroying homes and threatening the lives of tens of thousands of people, says Yumei Wang, a geotechnical engineer at the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries in Portland. [Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release. [/Editor]