• Chinese lakes may burst

    Last Monday’s earthquake, and subsequent aftershocks, weaken large dam and raise fears of man-made lake bursting, causing massive floods in the already ravaged region

  • Detailed studies of U.S. disaster preparedness offer recommendations

    Critical care panel tackles disaster preparation, surge capacity, and health care rationing; some recommendations require largely greater budgets; other pose profound ethical and moral questions

  • China lacks earthquake early-warning system

    Earthquake alerts are still in their infancy and few nations deploy them; China is one of the many countries which is yet to do so; such systems offer but a few seconds warning of a coming quake, but these few seconds may be enough to save many from death or injury

  • Worries about damage to Chinese dam

    Damage to a large Chinese dam near the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake raises worries about more troubles to come in the devastated region

  • Scientists debate link between climate change and storm ferocity

    Cyclone Nargis, just before it smashed into Myanmar, suddenly changed gear from a Category One to a Category Four cyclone just before it made landfall; similar changes were noted in other recent tropical storms; are changes linked to global warming?

  • U.S. hospitals could not handle terror attack

    Inquiry into the disaster preparedness of hospitals in several major U.S. cities conclude that they are — and will be — incapable to handle even a modest terrorist attack in those cities; one reason for for the lack of hospitals’ capacity: the Bush administration’s cuts in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals overwhelm emergency rooms with patients suffering from routine problems, leaving no capacity to absorb and treat disaster victims

  • Scientists search for clues to Reno earthquake

    The shaking in Reno is unusual because the intensity of the quakes has increased over the past few weeks; generally, earthquakes tend to occur and are followed by smaller aftershocks

  • National level exercise begins In May

    The National Exercise Program (NEP) of FEMA will conduct National Level Exercise 2-08 (NLE 2-08) — a combined functional and full scale exercise — from 1 through 8 May

  • Reno urged to prepare for worse as earthquakes continue

    Scientists call on Reno residents to brace themselves for more earthquakes; more than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the western edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit Friday night

  • Earthquake in Illinois could portend an emerging threat

    Earthquakes in the Midwest section of the United States were mostly the result of the New Madrid Fault in Missouri’s bootheel; seismologists now worry that the 18 April, 5.2 Richter earthquake which shook the Midwest originated in the Wabash Valley Fault — meaning that another fault is becoming active

  • Robots in search-and-rescure competition

    A robot competition takes place in Germany this week; the robots compete with each other in how well they traverse, autonomously and without any input from handlers, through a maze resembling the aftermath of a natural disaster; robots sniff out toy dolls that either emit CO2, give off heat, make noise, or move

  • Forecast: The Big One is coming

    Geologists say that there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike by 2037; California is one of the most seismically active regions in the world, where more than 300 faults crisscross the state

  • Unusual tremors measured off Oregon

    Tremors measured off the coast of Oregon typically precede volcanic eruptions, but there are no volcanoes in the area; quakes have also not followed the typical pattern of a major shock followed by a series of diminishing aftershocks

  • New way to estimate size and frequency of meteorite impacts

    How large was the meteorite which hit Earth 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs? Now we know: Four to six kilometers in diameter; scientists offer new methods to measure the size and frequency of meteorite impact

  • Underwater ears offer information about hurricane strength

    MIT researchers find that hydrophones planted on the ocean floor can “listen” to hurricanes as they form; the sound hurricanes make varies with their intensity — so early listening to hurricanes would help first responders better prepare