Monday 9 December 2013

World’s Worst Earthquakes Caused By Man

This short article in the Sunday times caught my attention whilst I was reading about current trending stories about Nelson Mandela and Nigella Lawson. 'Scientists have suggested some of the worlds largest and most deadly recent earthquakes were not natural disasters at all - but were instead caused by human activities' (Jonathan Leake, Science Editor). To read the whole article click here.

The Sichuan quake in China in 2008 killed 80,000 people
Figure 1: The Sichuan earthquake in China


The article has emerged following findings from a global study of hundreds of earthquakes by Klose whose research in the Journal of Seismology identified 92 large earthquakes which could be linked to human impact. He published a paper in 2010 titled 'Human-Triggered Earthquakes and Their Impacts on Human Security' which is also worth looking at. 

This is extremely interesting and relevant. So far in my blog, I have looked at the science of different individual natural hazards and the characteristics of our world population in terms of size and location. In the next few weeks I will begin to draw links between hazards and population. This article is perfect to get the ball rolling. 

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