Earthquake

They're finally here! Following years of preparation, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released the 2014 National Seismic Hazard Maps. These display earthquake ground motions for various probability levels across the conterminous United States, and replace the previous versions published in 2008.

Wealthy developed nations have a much easier time rebounding from major natural disasters than developing ones. A mature insurance market and high insurance penetration rates are among the mechanisms that add considerably to their resilience by making available financial resources from a source other than the government to help homeowners and businesses rebuild.

Over fifty years ago not only a major turning point toward a better understanding of earthquakes occurred, but also the large-scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. Read on.

This week greeted Los Angeles residents with a bit of a jolt, as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck the area early Monday morning, just a few miles northwest of downtown.

The word “seiche” might just be a life saver in a game of Scrabble—but what on earth does it mean? Pronounced “saysh,” it is a Swiss French dialect word meaning to sway back and forth and is used by hydrologists to describe an oscillating wave form found in enclosed or partially enclosed bodies of water.

A stitch in time, they say, saves nine—and retrofitting an older home to protect against major hurricane or earthquake damage can save a bundle down the road in repair costs and lower insurance premiums. In California, which experiences more than 37,000 earthquakes a year (granted, all but a few are too small to be felt) and has two-thirds of the nation’s earthquake risk, stringent building codes aim to ensure that modern construction will sustain minimal damage during quakes. But most of the property in the state is older, and having been constructed to lesser standards, is not so resilient.