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PodClast - Episode 4: Sichuan Earthquake and Mars Phoenix Lander
Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 @ 10:37 am by Dave Schumaker
The fourth episode of the Goodschist PodClast is out today. This episode features Chris Town and myself. Due to technical difficulties, Chris and I decided to each record a separate segment of the PodClast, dealing with topics we were planning on discussing.
Show notes for Episode 4 are available on Chris’ webpage and relevant links will posted on the PodClast del.icio.us account.
Discussions this week feature a brief discussion on the Sichuan earthquake in China and the pending landing of the Mars Phoenix Lander.
Chris is always looking for new voices from the geoblogosphere to join in on the PodClast. If you’d like to participate next time, check out his information on joining the PodClast.
[Via GoodSchist]
USGS Earthquake Scenario for Southern California
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 @ 11:10 am by Dave Schumaker
The strongest shaking and greatest damage is near the stretch of the San Andreas Fault that extends through the fastest growing areas of Southern California, including the Coachella Valley, Inland Empire and Antelope Valley.
At least 10 million people will be exposed to heavy shaking. California’s efforts at mitigation have concentrated on life safety and have been largely successful. Thus, in spite of the large numbers of people in highly shaken areas, deaths are estimated at only 1,800.
Building types known to be vulnerable to damage and collapse, do indeed sustain major damage. All un-reinforced masonry buildings within 15 miles of the San Andreas Fault are completely destroyed. Those that are not retrofitted kill many occupants. Many other older building types without retrofitting contribute to over $33 billion in damage to buildings.
The fault offsets all lifelines crossing into Southern California at Cajon Pass (Interstate 15), San Gorgonio Pass (Interstate 10) and along Route 14, including pipelines, power lines, roads, railways, telecommunications and aqueducts.
Strong shaking continues in downtown Los Angeles for 55 seconds nearly 8 times longer than in the Northridge Earthquake
The prolonged, strong shaking heavily damages and sometimes collapses hundreds of old brick buildings, thousands of older commercial and industrial concrete buildings, many wood-frame buildings, and even a few, high-rise steel buildings. Over 600,000 buildings suffer at least some damage that causes tens of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths, and leaves many thousands of people without homes or jobs.
Fire doubles the fatalities and economic losses. Around Southern California, there will be 1,600 fires started large enough to warrant a 911 call, and some fires merge into conflagrations that burn hundreds of city blocks. Assuming no Santa Ana winds, the models still indicate a further $65 billion in direct losses and $22 billion in indirect losses from the fires.
Nearly two thirds of the hospital beds are non-functional in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. At the same time, 50,000 people will seek treatment at emergency rooms.
Andrew Alden at about.com briefly wrote about this yesterday.
On the Ground in China - Sichuan Earthquake Photos
Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008 @ 5:22 pm by Dave Schumaker
There are quite a few sites sharing photos of the disaster across the internet. They include:
Cryptome.org - Listing photos by day: May 12 and 13, May 13 and 14, May 14, May 14 and 15, May 16, and May 16 and 17.
Warning: Some of these images are pretty powerful and may not be suitable for a work environment.
Shanghaiist, a Chinese blog on culture and entertainment (written in English), has had some great on-the-ground coverage of the earthquake and first hand accounts. Check that out for more information and video as well.
Source: AP, May 13, 2008.
Source: AP, May 13,2008.
Source: AP, May 14, 2008.
Source: AP, May 14, 2008.
Source: Getty Images.
The latest news from Chinese authorities say that 32,000 perished and 50,000 total are presumed dead.
Disseminating Information: Twitter vs. USGS on the Sichuan Earthquake
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 @ 3:05 pm by Dave Schumaker
On Sunday evening, noted Bay Area tech blogger Robert Scoble, became one of the first people in the western hemisphere to find out about a large earthquake in China. He reposted a message he received on his Twitter account about the breaking news and within minutes, thousands of people around the world were aware that something had just happened.
Scoble’s Twitter message immediately after the Sichuan earthquake.
Later that evening, Scoble wrote a message on his blog, explaining how Twitter beat the USGS with information about the earthquake and sharing his amazement at learning about news as it happened on Twitter. Rory Cellan-Jones, a technology blogger for the BBC News, even went on to imply that this could mark Twitter’s “coming of age,” and establish its importance in disseminating information about major news events.
Does this really establish Twitter’s importance as a source of news? And how does this compare with the response time and information available from the USGS?
More after the jump. (more…)
Severe Cracks in China’s Zipingpu Dam
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 @ 1:30 am by Dave Schumaker
Severe cracks were discovered in the Zipingpu Dam, located in China’s Sichuan province. The cracks were discovered after Monday’s earthquake. According to Chinese authorities, the “plant and associated buildings have collapsed and some are partly sunk.” The dam is locaed upriver from Duijiangyan City, which has a population of 630,000 people.
About 2,000 troops were sent to work on a dam near the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake, state-run media reported.
The Zipingpu dam, upriver from Dujiangyan in Sichuan province, was in “great danger,” the Xinhua news agency reported.
China.org said that the 7.9-magnitude earthquake had caused “severe cracks” in the dam.
The “plant and associated buildings have collapsed and some are partly sunk,” it said of the hydropower station.
The Ministry of Water Resources said that an irrigation system and Dujiangyan City — which has a population of about 630,000 — “would be swamped,” if major problems emerged at the dam, China.org said.
More information also available at Sky News.
Update: The dam is now reported to be stable and safe.
Update 2: Updated to a correct photo of the Zipingpu Dam, as the Internation Rivers website had an incorrect photo.