That seems like a silly question, all things considered. But the following from Reuters alert.net for journalists covering disasters suggests otherwise:
IS 2010 WORSE THAN USUAL FOR QUAKES? To the untrained eye, it may seem like an unusually high number of earthquakes has occurred in 2010, including fatal tremors in Haiti, Chile, Mexico and China. But scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) say the level of earthquake activity is nothing out of the ordinary, despite the devastation caused. The important thing about quakes is where they happen - how near major urban centres, in poor or rich countries, how far below the surface? A researcher with the Brussels-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) says the risks are growing in low and middle-income countries with rising populations concentrated in cities. Meanwhile, aid workers are struggling to help those made homeless in the remote quake-hit Chinese county of Yushu after a choking sandstorm and heavy snow severed a vital air link. And May 12 marks two years since the Sichuan earthquake killed more than 80,000 people, including thousands of children who were crushed to death by collapsing schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment