Shattered by powerful back-to-back earthquakes, Mexico is facing daunting damages across six states. Now Chiapas and Oaxaca, the country’s two poorest states, which were hit first, fear neglect.
The city of Juchitan, on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, was hit particularly hard by the 8.2-magnitude earthquake that shook the region on Sept. 7, 2017.
Edgard Garrido/Reuters
The Tehuantepec gap in southeastern Mexico, where this month’s massive earthquake originated, was long thought to be ‘aseismic.’ On September 7, scientists learned otherwise.
Residents look at the damaged hotel ‘Ane Centro’ after a 8.1 magnitude earthquake in Matias Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Angel Hernandez/AAP
A 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Mexico on 8 September 2017. Fortunately, initial fears of a damaging tsunami hitting the coastline now appear unfounded.
South Korea’s Meteorological Administration, on the case.
EPA/Jeon Heon-Kyun
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.
The drilling project at New Zealand’s Alpine Fault is the first to investigate a major fault that is due to rupture in a big earthquake in coming decades.
John Townend/Victoria University of Wellington
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.
Workers rebuild a temple damaged during the 2015 earthquake, in Bhaktapur.
Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar
Robin Lacassin, Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP) y 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.
Muscat in Oman is particularly vulnerable.
Pixabay
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.
Devastation in Sichuan province after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, thought to be induced by industrial activity at a nearby reservoir.
dominiqueb/flickr
Those communities affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident are having their resilience tested once again.
The Fukushima Daini plant, 11km from the ill-fated Daiichi station, suffered a technical problem in one of its spent fuel cooling ponds.
EPA/Kimimasa Mayama
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.
A man evacuated from his home watches TV news on the tsunami warnings following the earthquake.
Kyodo Kyodo/Reuters
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.
Small earthquakes can point to a region where larger, destructive and potentially deadly quakes may occur.
Shutterstock/sfam
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?