This study analyzes the exposure of energy and transport assets in Asia and the Pacific to climate change and earthquake hazards and highlights how multi-hazard assessment can help strengthen the resilience of crucial infrastructure. Geolocating and undertaking a multi-hazard assessment of more than 30,000 infrastructure assets, the study identifies significant …
a soil bacterium that helps deposit calcium carbonate (calcite) on sandy soil could hold the key to protect buildings against earthquakes. Researchers at the University of California unravelled the wonder property of the bacteria, Bacillus pasteurii, while trying to precipitate calcite on sandy soil. They found that calcite precipitation in …
No small buses Sri Lanka's Western Province Transport Authority has decided to bid farewell to the minibuses with less than 26 seats, which are still transporting passengers on the roads of the Western Province. The authority has set June 30, 2007, as the final deadline. It further plans to provide …
it might just be easier to predict earthquakes now. uk-based Leicester University researchers have successfully used a technology to detect fault lines, the causal location of earthquakes. The researchers used the light detection and ranging (lidar) method to detect fault line movements, which help predict earthquakes. Earthquake prediction lidar helps …
Telecommunications in Southeast Asia was badly affected after an earthquake hit southern Taiwan on December 27, 2006. Fixed-line and mobile international telephone connections were largely back on line two days after the quake, but officials warned that it could take several more days before Internet access across much of Southeast …
Oil India Ltd, a premier petroleum company of India, is planning to conduct seismic survey in total area of 4,500 sq km in eastern Assam consisting mainly of bed of river Brahmaputra and islands in the river. Such surveys are generally the first stage in oil exploration and they deploy …
two studies by researchers from the us, India and Japan have thrown new light on the extremely challenging science of earthquake forecasting. The first has to do with silent earthquakes
An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit the Indonesian island of Java in the early hours of May 27, 2006. More than 135,000 houses were destroyed and an estimated 647,000 people were displaced, according to reports from Associated Press. The quake was centred just off the Indian Ocean …
even as official apathy towards reducing seismic hazard continues in India, a computer simulation shows that the next big earthquake in the Himalaya may kill as many as 150,000 people and injure almost twice that number. The study carried out by Max Wyss, director of the Geneva-based World Agency of …
earthquake-resistant measures adopted by India may be founded on shaky ground as the country has failed to incorporate the latest understanding of geophysical processes, caution experts. Seismologist K N Khattri, who recently retired as head of the seismology department at the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee, questions the soundness …
monsoon rains may trigger fresh disasters for the people who survived last year's earthquake in Pakistan, if urgent action is not taken, warn experts. The tremor on October 8, 2005, caused a massive landslide in Hattian Bala tehsil of Muzaffarabad at the confluence of two streams
quake fouls jhelum: Concerns are being raised over truckloads of debris generated by the October 2005 earthquake being dumped daily into the Jhelum river in Pakistan. Environmentalists say the waste contains many chemicals, which are polluting the waters of the river, disturbing its local ecosystem and threatening aquatic life. Since …
quake forecast: Researchers at Yale and the University of Washington, both in the US, suggest a new way to forecast severe earthquakes. They say that big earthquakes, like the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, may be caused by the build-up of sediment on top of subduction zones
As aid material reaches areas hit by the October 8, 2005, earthquake in Pakistan, there is an increased outflow of patients. Infections in wounds stitched badly after the quake has turned into a serious threat. A case in point is Ali Asghar, an eight-year-old from Balakot, who was operated upon …
