Earthquake Time Bombs

by Robert Yeats

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Pub Date Dec 15 2015 | Archive Date Nov 25 2015

Description

In a media interview in January 2010, scientist Robert Yeats sounded the alarm on Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as an 'earthquake time bomb', a region at critical risk of major seismic activity. One week later, a catastrophic earthquake struck the city, leaving over 100,000 dead and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

In this timely study, Yeats sheds new light on other earthquake hotspots around the world and the communities at risk. He examines these seismic threats in the context of recent cultural history, including economic development, national politics and international conflicts. Descriptions of emerging seismic resilience plans from some cities provide a more hopeful picture. Essential reading for policy-makers, infrastructure and emergency planners, scientists, students and anyone living in the shadow of an earthquake, this book raises the alarm so that we can protect our vulnerable cities before it's too late.

With geologists predicting "The Really Big One" to hit the Pacific Northwest at any time and major cities from San Francisco to Seattle scrambling to prepare, this unique look at which regions are in jeopardy and how they might fare better when the big one hits has never been more timely.

In a media interview in January 2010, scientist Robert Yeats sounded the alarm on Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as an 'earthquake time bomb', a region at critical risk of major seismic activity. One week...

Advance Praise

"This book highlights the appalling reality of the threat to the world's growing population that is exposed to earthquakes, especially those concentrated in vulnerable megacities. The recent calamities of the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal are simply foretastes of what is to come, unless decisive action is taken. It is written by someone perhaps uniquely qualified to do so: an earthquake scientist whose long and personal engagement with many of the cities he writes about is accompanied by an extremely well informed, up-to-date and widely respected grasp of his subject. It is written in an easy semi-populist, non-technical style that will make it accessible to non-specialists, but with the completely convincing authority and balance that accompanies an author who is utterly confident and secure in his knowledge. It is an impressive achievement to distil decades of global scientific effort into a compelling narrative and call to action."
James Jackson, University of Cambridge

"This book highlights the appalling reality of the threat to the world's growing population that is exposed to earthquakes, especially those concentrated in vulnerable megacities. The recent...