From crossing a road to fracking for oil, everything has inherent risks. At best, we can only aim to agree that, on balance, they are contained and justified.
Rupert Sutherland, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
An international team discovers extreme underground conditions at New Zealand’s Alpine Fault, which is due to rupture in a major earthquake in the next few decades.
Robin Lacassin, Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP) et Raphael Grandin, Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP)
Oklahoma is trying to limit the number of earthquakes caused by oil and gas extraction, but some existing faults there – which could be activated by wastewater injection – have never been mapped.
Can California’s wet weather make earthquakes more likely? Scientists are still learning about what triggers these events. Even human activity can be a culprit.
The latest earthquake off Japan’s east coast was an ominous reminder of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. But despite a technical hitch at one of Fukushima’s other reactors, there was no repeat this time.
Japan’s response to a tsunami threat following major earthquake shows it has learned much from past events, including the deadly quake and tsunami that disabled the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Potentially deadly and dangerous earthquakes can strike at any time. But can authorities get some early warning from monitoring the hundreds of small quakes that usually go unnoticed?