What is earthquake? complete guidance

 

Earthquake is one of the natural disasters. The origin can be traced to the early days of the formation of the earth. It is responsible for a lot of damage to living organisms and non-living. For many centuries no man who does not know why earthquakes occur and how they occur and to what extent the damage will be. He believed he was the only one who was angry with Mother Earth and caused the earthquake and that he always feared.It was left to Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, to link this phenomenon of the earthquake to physical factors. According to Aristotle, when the compressed air escapes into the bow, shake it part of the land. This is called the emission of volcanic activity. When the volcano exploded, and a lot of lava, gas and other out of the ground, and the failure of the exit. This causes a pressure imbalance and results in the production of earthquake waves in the surrounding areas. Thus has been identified that volcanic activity is one of the causes of earthquakes. Results of volcanic activity in the crack. To fill the new errors on the movement of the earth takes place. This causes the earthquake.The second reason is the isostatic adjustment. Earth's surface and some of the blocks and barriers set up a certain depression. They keep the balance of the earth, and when the rotor moves the units of the axis. Raised these blocks until it is washed down due to various reasons, and why the imbalance. Earthquakes also occur and then to restore and maintain this balance.We can see that earthquakes usually occur in areas volcano Prime Minister and under the feet of the hills and mountains, as well as any settlement earthquakes occur frequently in China, Japan, the Philippines, and southern parts of the Himalayas, cut off Prime Minister volcano in Europe and parts of North West and South America. It is also likely to occur in the state of Rajasthan in India and Arab countries.One can not say that earthquakes do not occur in other places. They may occur in any part of the world at any time. We are not sure of the very radical Islamic movements from the ground and pressure points and the session. Only in this way one can determine the areas, are likely to occur.All earthquakes do not cause serious damage. Those that are of high density is really dangerous. There are standards to measure the intensity of the earthquake. It was the first one in the scope of Mercall. Is the measure of a qualitative, not quantitative scale, and so are not useful for measuring the density. The second is the Richter scale. Is released from inside the Richter scale. Measured with numbers. If the earthquake measures 7 points on the Richter scale, it causes severe damage because of severe intensity. Perhaps those measuring 5 points and less do not cause much damage.Scientists are now able to study and determine the secondary waves and higher education also in the waves of earthquakes. Scientists are able to study the radical Islamic movements in the wave of the help of a device called a seismograph. Helping one can also predict the possibility of an earthquake is likely, "Where and when is likely to happen.In India more than earthquakes occur in the Himalayas, the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. Was signed by only a few earthquakes in the Deccan Plateau. Earthquake, which occurred in 1967 in Icwyna and the earthquake in 1993 in the state of Maharashtra in the last Latour are in this area.And can in this respect than men of natural disasters can not be the only master he becomes a master of nature altogether. This is not possible for a man with limited knowledge of nature has in his leadership.

powerfull Japan disaster

Government agency the Nuclear Regulatory taught with a focus on five scenarios, including the possibility of the earthquake on both the tsunami struck the reactor, and when assessing the nuclear safety under the title of "stress tests" What is called for inclusion in the wake of the crisis Daiichi Fukushima, government sources said Wednesday.The Agency for Nuclear Safety and industrial aims to compile the draft plan, later this week, perhaps, for how they will conduct safety assessments, which will be implemented in two phases. And another watchdog, the Commission on nuclear safety, check whether the project plan reactors appropriate.Nuclear idled for a regular check-ups will be subject for the first stage for the resumption of the process, with the study of the extent of assistance that key facilities will be able to withstand damage in the event of severe natural disasters on the scale more expected.waves of tsunami to the compound of Gush near the Unit 4 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear complex in the Dai Ichi Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northeast of Japan.The the second phase of tests will be more comprehensive and implemented in all nuclear power plants. Based on these results, Japan's nuclear reactors that are currently in a process that can be suspended.The sources said that the first phase of the analysis may adopt a simpler method of the second stage, in a way that does not go away from what has been achieved to reduce the actual study, but whether can withstand a certain level of impact.The method called PSA uses the digital data representing all possible accidents and the frequency of earthquakes that may occur in nuclear power plants and their impact. But can not evaluate each of the five cases by method.Of five scenarios, the two remaining from the reactor when it loses power, and when you are working to take the heat from the reactor using sea water, but fails. And flooded the road leading to the compound of Dai Ichi Fukushima nuclear power plant as the tsunami struck established after the devastating earthquake in the town of Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northeast of Japan.The stages I and II of the analysis conducted by the utilities operating nuclear power will provide plants and agency of nuclear safety, and will consider the decision of the Agency by the Nuclear Safety Commission.

Pakistan floods update

Dumping nearly one year after devastating floods vast areas of land in various parts of Pakistan, which affects more than 20 million people, many of the survivors are still struggling to rebuild their lives in the monsoon season this year is about to rain start.The The first season of 2011 began to fall, according to the Meteorological Office, and this raises anxiety.He good reason to fear. Said Kamal Ahmed, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), last week, floods killed seven people in South Waziristan after heavy rains led to the houses collapsing.Early this month, the media in Islamabad that the authority had worked out a plan emergency for an emergency new floods. "NDMA following two plans to flooding, including a plan for the worst-case scenario under which they can be affected for up to six million people, and the likely scenario under which 2.2 million people could be a potential victim," as many said.But still skeptical. "My fields have been destroyed, reduced to my house of sticks of wood, and my wrist was broken while trying to save my family," said Azeemullah Khan, a village in Charsadda district. "I'm still struggling to earn a living or just put food on the table. Helped some NGOs to us at first, but then left us alone." Warned Emergency Relief Coordinator of the United Nations Valerie Amos last week, "according to officials government does not mean anything to me. families affected by floods in the need to continue to provide support to rebuild their lives. monsoon 2011, is about to start and up to two million people and once again in danger of flooding, due in part to lack of funds for reconstruction ". there is a need for significant efforts immediately to reduce the vulnerability of these families and the implementation of urgent healing and prevention of flood preparedness work on the banks of the river, and irrigation canals and other infrastructure."
"The [2010] floods had a severe impact on people's lives, homes and property," said the report of the Government's assessment: "Most people do not know when it will be able to resume their lives," and the floods, it noted, wiped out "severely damaged" about 2 per cent of the Pakistan's annual growth rate and $ 10 billion on economic infrastructure. "The flood-affected areas and was always lagging behind in terms of social and economic indicators, education, compared with areas not affected by the floods," the report said. He added that "the loss of livelihoods and infrastructure, pushing them behind the other. The people most affected are mostly small farmers and unskilled workers." At least 1,200 people died in the floods, and the second in the world in the worst 10 years, according to the center, based in Belgium for research Epidemiology of Disasters.According Amos to the UN, there is still a need for more than $ 600 million to support early recovery activities, including water wells, the rehabilitation and renewal and primary health care system and the rebuilding of schools. "I'm very concerned," said Fahin the Federal Investigation Agency official, "the lack of funds prevents the pre-positioning of necessary medical supplies, and the continued beyond July of diseases at the provincial level early warning system."

karachi earthquake

The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 jolted southwestern Pakistan, said U.S. Geological Survey in the early morning on Wednesday.Urban populations far apart as far as New Delhi and Dubai, but no significant damage to an area with low population density.Earthquake that occurred in Karachi and Hyderabad, Quetta, Jaffarabad, while the tremors felt in Lahore and Sargodha.The strength of the quake at more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) underground near a town in Baluchistan province Dalbandin, near the Afghan border, Iranian, and said the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).U.S. Agency revised a preliminary estimate that the earthquake was very shallow, ranging from 7.4, and said it was probably at a depth of 52 miles (83 km), 55 km (34 miles) west of Dalbandin, the city with about 15,000 people in the center.Poor communication delayed reports received from the remote area, but despite the strength of the shock, and depth of the damage appears to be limited. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was much shallower than the first.Residents in large cities as far apart as the Indian capital New Delhi, said the emirate of Dubai, I felt fear about how people in Karachi, although there are no early reports of injuries or damage there.In Quetta, 330 kilometers (205 miles) northeast of the epicenter, a woman died in hospital of a heart attack after the quake, officials said at the hospital. In Karachi, 400 km (250 miles), and people rushed from their homes by the quake."I felt my bed shaking. I woke up and ran to check on the children," said Rizvi impeccable. "It was very scary, I've never felt anything like this before."He said the tsunami center in the Pacific, said the quake did not cause a tsunami in the Indian Ocean.A strong earthquake of this size is capable of causing widespread damage and heavy.
Distance from the center of famous places are:
55 km (34 miles) W (271 degrees) of Dalbandin, Pakistan
263 km (164 miles) W (269 degrees) of Kalat, Pakistan
301 km (187 miles) east (102 degrees) of Zahedan, Iran
793 km (493 miles) northeast (41 degrees) from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
He died on October 8, 2005 earthquake of 7.6 magnitude at a distance of 95 km northeast of Islamabad, about 70,000 people.Major earthquake of this size, if the shallow depths and close to urban centers, is able to inflict serious damage and serious, and can put pressure on Pakistan after the devastating floods in the past year, more than 10 million people homeless.

"we must anticipate big disasters" china flood killed more than 700 people

Flooding in China that has killed more than 700 people this year However officials, in the first high-level media briefing on weeks of deadly flooding plaguing much of the country's southern half, said a disaster on the scale of historic 1998 flooding on the Yangtze River would likely be averted.A total of 701 people have died so far this year in flooding that has also left 347 people missing, Liu Ning, head of the country's flood control authority and vice-minister of water resources.the annual rainy season would continue at least through August, and that more downpours were expected, further straining reservoirs and other water control projects, especially as the East Asian typhoon season has just begun.During this period there will be heavy rainfall and serious floods. The rainfall will continue.meteorologists expected heavy rains could spread to northern China, possibly causing flooding along major rivers such as the Huai, Yellow and Songhua.In these rivers they haven't seen major floods in many years and they are very likely to see some soon. So we must anticipate big disasters.Tens of thousands of homes and other structures have been destroyed in floods and landslides, and economic losses have hit at least 142 billion yuan ($A23.8 billion), with 110 million people affected.The number of deaths and figures for damage are China's worst in 10 years.The floods have dominated the country's attention for weeks, with state television each day broadcasting dramatic images of villagers being rescued from raging rivers or plucked from rooftops in inundated villages.The situation has triggered fears China could see a repeat of the disastrous flooding of 1998, when heavy rain swelled the Yangtze, China's longest river, and many tributaries, leading to a series of devastating levee collapses.At least 4150 people were believed to have died, 18 million were evacuated and millions of homes were destroyed in the floods, the country's worst in recent memory.rainfall levels, although extremely high, have remained 20 per cent lower than those of 1998.And although the upper reaches of the Yangtze drainage basin have seen the highest flood peak since 1987,the dam would prevent flood surges on the river's upper and lower reaches from "converging" as they did in 1998.the government was now feverishly co-ordinating the release of water by dams throughout the region to maintain a smooth flow.The Three Gorges Dam is now playing an effective role in flood control.

Beijing china earthquake destroyed 18,445 houses

An earthquake toppled more than 1,000 houses and apartment buildings in China's southwest near the border with Myanmar on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 200, The magnitude-5.8 quake was centered in Yingjiang and struck just before 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers). The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a magnitude of 5.4 and at a deeper 21 miles (35 kilometers).Some 1,200 houses or apartments were crushed by the quake, said Zhao Yunshan, director of Yingjiang government press office. More than 127,000 people have been evacuated to nearby shelters, Xinhua reported, citing the Civil Affairs Ministry.According to the USGS, more than 1 million people may have been exposed to the worst shaking.Vice President Xi Jinping, expected to be the country's next leader, called for an "all-out" effort to get food, water and clothing to those affected by the quake, Xinhua said.Tremors continued to be felt in the area throughout the afternoon and evening, according to CCTV reporter Shu Qian, who was at the disaster scene in Yingjiang County.The quake's epicenter was in Shiming Village, just over a mile (two kilometers) from the county seat, but triggered a power outage across Yingjiang, which has a population of about 300,000 people, Xinhua said.By evening, the power supply was still cut off, though water and communications didn't appear to be damaged, Shu said.A government team that includes the Civil Affairs Ministry has been dispatched to the quake-stricken area. About 5,000 tents, 10,000 quilts and 10,000 coats are also being sent from the central government.The mountainous area lies 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) southwest of Beijing, close to the border with Myanmar, and is home to many ethnic groups on both sides of the border, which sees heavy traffic in people and goods.Xinhua said the quake-prone region has been hit by more than 1,000 minor tremors over the past two months.The Myanmar Meteorological Department released a statement saying a quake had hit some 230 miles (370 kilometers) northeast of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city.The statement did not mention injuries, damage or the specific area of Myanmar most affected by the quake. Authorities in the tightly ruled country tend not to immediately discuss the effects of natural disasters.Much of the area on the Myanmar side been under the control of various armed ethnic groups, who have battled the Myanmar military to remain free from central government control.BEIJING, March 12 About 127,100 residents have been evacuated to safety after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit Yingjiang County in southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Saturday.As of 10 p.m. Friday, the earthquake has left 25 people dead and more than 250 others injured including 134 seriously, the ministry said in a report.All the casualties were reported in Yingjiang County, with the surrounding counties including Longchuan, Lianghe, Ruili and Luxi reporting damages of thousands of houses or apartments, it said.The earthquake has affected the production and life of about 344,600 residents in the five counties.The earthquake destroyed 18,445 houses and apartments and left 55,345 others seriously damaged, the ministry's figures showed.

worlds highest-magnitude tremor in recent memory.the powerfull earthquake

In February 2009, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists suggested that the calamity was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir built close to the earthquake's geological fault line.A Columbia University scientist who studied the quake has said that it may have been triggered by the weight of 320 million tons of water in the Zipingpu Reservoir less than a mile from a well-known major fault. His conclusions, presented to the American Geophysical Union in December, coincide with a new finding by Chinese geophysicists that the dam caused significant seismic changes before the earthquake.The Jan. 12 earthquake that rocked the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince may not have been the highest-magnitude tremor in recent memory, but it certainly seemed the most cataclysmic. Within hours, more than a million people became homeless. Buildings across much of the city and its suburbs were reduced to rubble. Some 230,000 people died, and hundreds of thousands of others were injured. The international response was swift, with dozens of countries sending aid, rescue teams and military personnel to stabilize the situation. But the damage has been devastating and profound in what is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. Tens of thousands remain in ramshackle tent cities that from the beginning have been short on or totally bereft of adequate provisions. Reports of rape are legion, and an epidemic of cholera has set in, killing more than 300 and leading to further calls for international relief. The hobbled Haitian government is unable to cope on its own — at times, outgoing President René Préval has seemed a bemused bystander, and it's unlikely that the results of upcoming elections can do much to change the bleak facts on the ground. On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province, a mountainous region in Western China, killing about 70,000 people and leaving over 18,000 missing. Over 15 million people lived in the affected area, including almost 4 million in the city of Chengdu.Since the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, which killed over 240,000 people, China has required that new structures withstand major quakes. But the collapse of schools, hospitals and factories in several different areas around Sichuan has raised questions about how rigorously such codes have been enforced during China's recent, epic building boom.In June 2008, low-lying areas in one of the towns most devastated by the earthquake were flooded as a torrent of water was released from a dangerous lake formed by landslides, dislodging wrecked homes, cars and corpses.The surge of floodwater into the town, Beichuan, was part of an effort by engineers and soldiers to drain Tangjiashan, one of more than 30 so-called quake lakes that were formed by landslides. For weeks, the dam of rock and mud holding back the rising waters of the Jian River there had threatened to burst and flood towns and cities downstream that are home to 1.3 million people.Another smaller earthquake struck the region in August 2008, damaging 258,000 homes and killing at least 32 people.Thousands of the initial quake's victims were children crushed in shoddily built schools, inciting protests by parents. Local police harassed the protestors and the government criticized them. At least one human rights advocate who championed their cause was arrested.
The Chinese government has refused to release the number of students who died or their names. But one official report soon after the earthquake estimated that up to 10,000 students died in the collapse of 7,000 classrooms and dormitory rooms.Reports emerged in July 2008 that local governments in the province had begun a coordinated campaign to buy the silence of angry parents whose children died during the earthquake.Most parents whose children died took a payment from the local government and a guarantee of a pension in exchange for silence.In December 2008, government officials acknowledged in the most definitive report since the earthquake that many school buildings across the country are poorly constructed and that 20 percent of primary schools in one southwestern province may be unsafe.By the first anniversary of the quake, mothers across the region were pregnant or giving birth again, aided by government medical teams dispensing fertility advice and reversing sterilizations. Because of China's policy limiting most families to having one child, the students who died were often their parents' only offspring. Officials say they hope a wave of births will help defuse the anger that many grieving parents harbor.
But the wounds have festered, in part because the Chinese government, wary of any challenge to its authoritarian rule, has muffled the parents and quashed public discussion of shoddy school construction. As the anniversary of the quake again focused attention on Sichuan, the government intensified its campaign to silence the parents. resorting to harassment by police and threats of imprisonment.The Sichuan government has explicitly prohibited media organizations from reporting on miscarriages by women in temporary housing camps. Some quake survivors say they fear that the miscarriages may have been caused by high levels of formaldehyde in the prefabricated housing.

TOKYO JAPAN EARTHQUAKE :

For more than two terrifying, seemingly endless minutes Friday, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan shook apart homes and buildings, cracked open highways and unnerved even those who have learned to live with swaying skyscrapers. Then came a devastating tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan and killed hundreds of people.
The violent wall of water swept away houses, cars and ships. Fires burned out of control. Power to a cooling system at a nuclear power plant was knocked out, forcing thousands to flee. A boat was caught in the vortex of a whirlpool at sea.
The death toll rose steadily throughout the day, but the true extent of the disaster was not known because roads to the worst-hit areas were washed away or blocked by debris and airports were closed.
Aerial scenes of the town of Ofunato showed homes and warehouses in ruins. Sludge and high water spread over acres of land, with people seeking refuge on roofs of partially submerged buildings. At one school, a large white "SOS" had been spelled out in English.
President Barack Obama pledged U.S. assistance following what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster. He said one U.S. aircraft carrier is already in Japan and a second was on its way. A U.S. ship was also heading to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed, he added.

Tokyo japan nuclear plant

TOKYO: The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant leaking radiation in northern Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis under control within six to nine months and allow evacuated residents to return to their homes.The phased road map for ending the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, announced by Tokyo Electric Power Co. chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata at a news conference, includes plans to cover the damaged reactor buildings to contain the radiation and eventually remove the nuclear fuel.Frustrations have been mounting over TEPCO’s failure to resolve the nuclear crisis more than a month after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, knocking out power and cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex.
In the first three months of the plan, the company hopes to steadily reduce the level of leaking radiation, Katsumata said. Three to six months after that, it hopes to get the release of radioactive materials under control.
”We would like to see evacuees return to their homes as early as possible,” Katsumata said.
The company is focusing on cooling the reactors and spent fuel pools, decontaminating water that has been contaminated by radiation, mitigating the release of radiation into the atmosphere and soil, and measuring and reducing the amount of radiation affecting the evacuation area, he said.TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said that in addition to covering the reactor buildings, the company will also work with authorities to decontaminate areas affected by the radiation.In a show of support for a staunch American ally, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed admiration and sympathy for the Japanese as she visited Tokyo on Sunday.
”We pledge our steadfast support for you and your future recovery. We are very confident that Japan will demonstrate the resilience that we have seen during this crisis in the months ahead,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto.

tokyo:nuclear power plant leaking

TOKYO: The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant leaking radiation in northern Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis under control within six to nine months and allow evacuated residents to return to their homes.The phased road map for ending the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, announced by Tokyo Electric Power Co. chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata at a news conference, includes plans to cover the damaged reactor buildings to contain the radiation and eventually remove the nuclear fuel.Frustrations have been mounting over TEPCO’s failure to resolve the nuclear crisis more than a month after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, knocking out power and cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex.
In the first three months of the plan, the company hopes to steadily reduce the level of leaking radiation, Katsumata said. Three to six months after that, it hopes to get the release of radioactive materials under control.
”We would like to see evacuees return to their homes as early as possible,” Katsumata said.
The company is focusing on cooling the reactors and spent fuel pools, decontaminating water that has been contaminated by radiation, mitigating the release of radiation into the atmosphere and soil, and measuring and reducing the amount of radiation affecting the evacuation area, he said.TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said that in addition to covering the reactor buildings, the company will also work with authorities to decontaminate areas affected by the radiation.In a show of support for a staunch American ally, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed admiration and sympathy for the Japanese as she visited Tokyo on Sunday.
”We pledge our steadfast support for you and your future recovery. We are very confident that Japan will demonstrate the resilience that we have seen during this crisis in the months ahead,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto.

jakarta:worlds biggest nuclear plant

The skeleton of what will soon be one of the world’s biggest nuclear plants is slowly taking shape along China’s southeastern coast right on the doorstep of Hong Kong’s bustling metropolis.Three other facilities nearby are up and running or under construction.Like Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant they lie within a few hundred miles (kilometers) of the type of fault known to unleash the largest tsunami spawning earthquakes.Called subduction zones, these happen when one tectonic plate is lodged beneath another. And because the so-called Manila Trench hasn’t been the source of a huge quake in at least 440 years, some experts say tremendous stresses are building, increasing the chances of a major rupture.Should that happen, the four plants in southern China, and a fifth perched on Taiwan’s southern tip, could be in the path of a towering wave like the one that struck Fukushima.But China, Taiwan, India and several other countries frantically building coastal facilities have made little use of new science to determine whether these areas are safe. At least 32 plants in operation or under construction in Asia are at risk of one day being hit by a tsunami, nuclear experts and geologists warn.And even when nations have conducted appropriate seismic hazard assessments, in many cases they have not shared the findings with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, leaving experts frustrated and in the dark.In assessing the tsunami risks to nuclear power stations, scientists focus on their proximity to subduction faults, volcanoes and areas frequently hit by underwater landslides all of which can trigger seismic waves. Because giant tsunamis recur, they also look at historic and scientific records, going back up to 4,000 years if possibleThe greatest threat comes from the subduction faults crisscrossing the globe, some far from the minds of policymakers, nuclear industry officials and the public because it has been so long since they exploded.In places where tectonic plates that form these faults are ”coupled,” or stuck together, the stresses are the biggest, especially if centuries have passed without a major energy releasing earthquake.When the strain eventually forces one plate to pop up or dive under the other, the resulting temblor can spawn mammoth waves like the one that struck off Japan’s northeast coast on March 11, triggering the nuclear crisis that has carried on for more than a month.While there is some ”coupling” at the Manila Trench, there is debate about just how much. Scientists say more research needs to be done to determine if pressure is building and along which segments.A computerized simulation by Yuen’s students shows a magnitude-9.0 quake along the Manila Trench sending waves racing along the South China Sea, before slamming Taiwan’s southern shore 15 minutes later. The tsunami reaches China’s southeast coast in around two hours. It also strikes Hong Kong, which sits just 30 miles from the nearest nuclear plant close enough to see increased radiation levels if a plant were to be damaged by a Fukushima-like event.
Scientists paint a worst-case scenario in which waves 15 to 24 feet high (5 to 8 meters) could strike the plants in China and Taiwan.Science has come a long way since the first nuclear plant was built in the 1950s.By carbon dating the ash, pollen or other organic material attached to tsunami sand deposits swept inland with the giant walls of water, geologists can determine to the decade, and sometimes even the year, when the wave hit and how big it was when it roared ashore.
That’s important because some tsunamis only strike once a millennium.

ONAGAWA, OSAKA,FUKUSHIMA,JAPAN EARTHQUAKE,TSUNAMI

 Hundreds of aftershocks have rocked the ground and frayed nerves in the five weeks since Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami, forcing survivors to relive the terror almost daily.The incessant rumbling of the Earth’s stressed crust has held back relief work, imperilled already dangerous operations to contain a nuclear crisis and fuelled fears far beyond the coast that was devastated by the giant wave.Many now complain of “earthquake sickness” — the sensation that the ground is swaying beneath their feet even when it is not — a condition blamed on confused inner-ear balance receptors and a heightened state of anxiety.
For the tens of thousands living in spartan and crowded evacuation shelters in and near the tsunami wastelands, the creaking of already weakened buildings and the risk of another killer wave spark mortal fears.Since the 9.0-magnitude quake shifted the seafloor by 24 metres (yards) and sent a huge wave crashing into Japan, more than 400 quakes above magnitude 5.0 have hit, most below the sea but many beneath Japan itself.Maps show their epicentres spread out like an angry rash across the Pacific seafloor east of Japan, one of the world’s most quake-prone and volcanic places on the intersection of several tectonic plates.
Geophysicists agree that the jolts and rumbles will not stop any time soon.They only differ on whether they will go on for months, years or even a decade.
A powerful 7.1-magnitude aftershock struck on April 7 followed by a series of shocks above 6.0 this week, with the biggest one prompting a tsunami scare, one of several issued and lifted since the monster quake.At the Onagawa evacuation centre, the lights went off on April 7 and hundreds poured out of the buildings where they shivered in the cold for about an hour until the tremors subsided and they were allowed back inside.Aftershocks centred near the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant have also repeatedly forced emergency crews there to evacuate, and led to fears the charred reactor buildings and water pipes may be further compromised.Radiation fears have also haunted some in the Onagawa evacuation centre, which lies just five kilometres (three miles) from a coastal nuclear plant of the same name that was also damaged on March 11 but went into full shutdown.I am afraid that another tsunami may knock out the Onagawa nuclear plant and cause it to leak radioactive material, like in Fukushima.