Volcanic tremor.
Volcanic tremor is a distinctive type of ground vibration that can be measured by seismographs. Tremor can be produced by hot volcanic gases passing through cracks on the way to the surface and by the movement of molten rock below and within a volcano. Volcanic tremor is sometimes an early indicator that a dormant volcano is on the way to renewed activity.
10:37 AM
21.5.04
Has anyone successfully predicted an earthquake?
Very few earthquakes have been successfully predicted. In 1975, near Haicheng, China, 90,000 people were evacuated a few hours before a Magnitude 7.3 earthquake that destroyed 90 percent of the buildings. The prediction was based on unusual animal behaviour and a greatly increased number of small earthquakes (foreshocks) that suddenly stopped. However, one year later Chinese scientists wrongly predicted a major quake in Kwantung Province, and for two months millions of people lived in tents before authorities decided the prediction was wrong.
1:32 PM
14.5.04
Natural disasters kill 50,000 worldwide in 2003 According to Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, natural disasters in 2003 cost the global economy more than US 60 billion dollars. It estimates the death toll at more than 50,000. At least 20,000 died in a deadly earthquake that hit Iran. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Algeria left at least 2,200 people dead, another in February in China damaged or destroyed 70,000 homes. Another 20,000 people died in the heat wave that swept Europe earlier in the year. Storms made up one third of the estimated 700 natural disasters but accounted for 75 percent of the costs.
1:48 PM
7.5.04
The safest place to experience a tsunami is at sea. Although tsunami waves can travel at more than 700 kilometres per hour, over deep oceans tsunami waves are very broad and low, so ships can ride over them safely. 1:41 PM
