Bacteria could steady buildings against earthquakes
Soil bacteria could be used to help steady buildings against earthquakes, according to researchers at UC Davis. The microbes can literally convert loose, sandy soil into rock. When a major earthquake strikes, deep, sandy soils can turn to liquid, with disastrous consequences for buildings sitting on them. Currently, civil engineers can inject chemicals into the soil to bind loose grains to...Massive coral death attributed to earthquake
Scientists have reported what is thought to be one of the world’s greatest mass death of corals ever recorded as a result of the earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia on 28 March 2005. The recent survey by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society - Indonesia Program and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (ARCCoERS) investigated the condition of cor...Wisconsin Researcher Co-Develops Earthquake Alarm
The system, described in the Friday, May 2 issue of the journal Science, could help mitigate disaster by giving people a few moments to take shelter under solid furniture, evacuate buildings, divert aircraft, stop trains, shut down pipelines and computer networks and distance themselves from dangerous machinery and chemicals. The system is based on <a href=http://www.trinet.org/ target=...More Severe Earthquakes May Hit Kashmir In Future
Roger Bilham a seismologist has revealed that more devastating earthquakes are likely to take place in the Kashmir region over a period of 50 years. // They will inflict far greater damage than the 8 October 2005 earthquake in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan. Roger Bilham who has been working in quake-affected areas of Pakistan for the past two months, said that a huge amount of energy was s...German hospital established in Kashmir for earthquake relief
An ambulatory medical unit has been set up in Pakistani Kashmir to provide surgery and medical treatment to victims of the devastating earthquake. The hospital was erected in just 2 hours//. The unit comprises of a total of 52 German doctors and other paramedical staff. The mobile unit was transported to Muzaffarabad, the Kashmir capital, in four helicopters. The establishme...UN Calls For More Funds For Earthquake Affected
There has been a considerable fall in the donations towards providing relief to the earthquake-affected people in Pakistan, according to the United Nations (UN). The December 2005 contributions were not even one third of what was received in November 2005. // Jan Vandemoortele, the UN Resident Coordinator has appealed to the donor nations to release the amounts that had been pledged by...UN Fears Earthquake Victims Could Turn To Drugs
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) fears that that the survivors of the massive October 8 South Asian earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan might turn to drugs to provide succor from their miseries. To avert this // possibility, the agency has launched a series of workshops in collaboration with the Pakistani Ministry of Health (MoH). Vincent McClean, Country Represe...Tectonic Plates Colliding Can Cause Earthquakes
Severe earthquakes can result due to tectonic plates colliding with each other, according to scientists. The researchers also contend that severe damage can be caused // by the subduction zone. At subduction zones, one tectonic plate pushes over the other. The earth's surface is laced with about 51,000 kilometers of subduction zones and the motion along the margins of the zones averages a slip of...