Via @davely on Twitter.
Amazing video of 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan
Via @davely on Twitter.
Geologic Hazards
USGS Landslide Documentary Video
The USGS has a documentary on landslide video on landslide danger in the San Francisco Bay area entitled “Riding the Storm”. I think the target audience is more general than geologist or engineer, but it is still interesting. The bullet points from the USGS site:
- A catastrophic 1982 rainstorm triggered 18,000 landslides in the Bay Area, claiming 25 lives and causing $66 million in property damage
- The combination of steep slopes, weak rocks, and intense winter storms make Bay Area uplands an ideal setting for landslides
- Landslides include both swift, potentially deadly debris flows and slower, but destructive deepseated slides
- Learn what USGS scientists have discovered about landslide dynamics and which slopes are most susceptible to sliding
- Hear the devastating stories of Bay Area residents affected by landslides and learn to recognize the danger signs
Click through to view the trailer and for links to download the full video. (Image credit: USGS)
Weekend CUP
Weekend CUP for April 13, 2010
Subsidence Beneath a UK Sports Stadium | Geology.com Widespread landslides in Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi in Brazil – Dave’s Landslide Blog Contractor Cleared to Start Tunnel On Hetch Hetchy System Program – ENR: Engineering […]
Press Releases
Italian Court Action Likely to Harm Efforts to Mitigate Earthquake Losses
On 22 October, 2012, an Italian court convicted six internationally respected scientists of manslaughter. The scientists Enzo Boschi, Giulio Selvaggi, Franco Barberi, Claudio Eva, Mauro Dolce, and Gian Michele Calvi have been sentenced to prison terms, barred from public office, and ordered to pay court costs and damages.
Their offense could have been avoided by precisely predicting the timing and nature of the tragic 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila. However, such precise, short-term earthquake prediction of the type evidently sought by L’Aquila is currently impossible. Because of the ungainly complexity of earthquake systems, knowledge of physical details is incomplete; the diverse expressions of earthquake processes deliver contradictory messages; and measurements of earthquake phenomena can be inaccurate. Glaringly, the indictment accused the scientists of having provided “incomplete”, “contradictory”, and “inaccurate” information.
[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from the GSA. [/Editor]