May 22, 2008
Marianne White, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 21, 2008
QUEBEC - The coast of British Columbia has long been considered as a high risk zone for earthquakes and underwater landslides that often cause tsunamis. Scientists now say Quebec and the East Coast should also brace for such hazard.
May 21, 2008
I’m doing a fresh story examining how to cut chances that more schools in known earthquake zones will crumble and kill in years to come. Yumei Wang, the geohazards team leader for the state of Oregon, sent me a cautionary note saying it’s important to remember that such risks are not confined to poor countries or emerging powers, but also face parts of the United States and other industrialized nations. She cited a 2007 survey of the vulnerability of schools and emergency-services buildings in Oregon that provides a chilling hint of the dangers. The bottom line? More than a thousand schools in Oregon are ready to fall in a Sichuan-style quake.
May 21, 2008
The drill is based on a large earthquake occurring just off shore in what is known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Although the drill is voluntary, the city encourages residents and businesses in low-lying areas to prepare and participate.
The City of Waldport and Central Coast Fire District will hold a voluntary earthquake and tsunami evacuation drill at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, May 22.
May 14, 2008
WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The story that rarely
gets told is how natural disasters like the cyclone in Myanmar and the
earthquake in China uniquely impact women and children. “Tragically, when
disaster strikes in most parts of the world, women and children get hurt
the worst on every level - but their story is rarely told loudly enough,”
says Ritu Sharma Fox, co-founder and president of Women Thrive Worldwide
(http://www.womenthrive.org). “As a result, their needs are overlooked both in the
immediate relief as well as long-term reconstruction.”
Read more …
May 14, 2008
By Krista J. Kapralos, Herald Writer
As the death toll from Monday’s 7.9- magnitude earthquake in China’s central Sichuan province continues to rise to more than 12,000, there is a nagging question:
What if it happened here?
Read more …
May 6, 2008
Authorities in Chile have ordered the complete evacuation of two towns after a volcano erupting nearby increased its activity, spewing out lava and ash.
Chaiten volcano in the southern Patagonia region began erupting on Friday for the first time in 450 years, taking local officials by surprise.
May 2, 2008
CORVALLIS, Ore. – An Oregon State University engineer is pioneering a project that enables middle school children to design, build and test tsunami shelters in the classrooms of rural and coastal Oregon schools.
The Tsunami Shelter Challenge aims to increase the technology skills of students by enhancing those of their teachers. The two-year program began in January, funded in part by a $75,000 grant from Symantec Corporation, and was created by Rozeanne Steckler, director of education at the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering at OSU, along with engineering professors Mike Bailey and Harry Yeh.
April 29, 2008
SEATTLE, WA (2008-04-2 
Government seismologists have raised their estimate for how much the West Coast will shake when the Big One hits. The scientists agree there’s a higher probability the offshore Cascadia earthquake zone will rupture all at once… from Vancouver Island to northern California. That would unleash a massive - magnitude nine - earthquake, and probably a tsunami too. This was discussed at a national conference that wrapped up in Seattle this weekend. Scientists and emergency planners there also pondered legends gathered from coastal Indian tribes. KPLU’s Tom Banse reports how Native storytelling is being incorporated into earthquake and tsunami preparedness.
April 28, 2008
VICTORIA — An earthquake measuring about 4.8 on the Richter scale shook the seabed off the northern tip of Vancouver Island Sunday afternoon.
Read more …
April 28, 2008
