Earthquake Time Bombs

This book assesses the cities and communities at critical risk of devastating earthquakes, and asks what we can do to protect them.

Robert Yeats (Author)

9781107085244, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 November 2015

361 pages, 68 b/w illus.
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.71 kg

'… [the] style of writing is very engaging and the reader feels privileged to accompany Yeats in these important reconnaissance trips and to share his thoughts and observations … fascinating and well worth reading …' Risa Palm, The AAG Review of Books

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.

Part I. Earthquakes, Deep Time and the Population Explosion: 1. Plate tectonics and why we have earthquakes
2. An earthquake primer
3. Deep time
4. When's the next big one?
5. Population explosion and increased earthquake risk to megacities
Part II. Earthquake Time Bombs: 6. San Francisco Bay Area
7. Los Angeles metro area
8. Seattle, Portland and Vancouver
9. Wellington, New Zealand
10. Santiago, Chile
11. Prologue in Central China
12. Age of Enlightenment and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
13. Jerusalem
14. Istanbul
15. Tehran
16. Kabul
17. Earthquakes in the Himalaya
18. Myanmar and the Sagaing Fault
19. Metro Manila, the Philippines
20. Lima, Peru
21. Andean earthquakes in Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador
22. Caracas
23. Haiti (which lost its gamble), and Jamaica and Cuba (not yet)
24. Mexico City
25. Central America and the earthquake that brought down a dictator
26. East African Rift Valley
Part III. Summary and Recommendations: 27. Where do we go from here?
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Urban & municipal planning [RPC], Natural disasters [RNR], Geology & the lithosphere [RBG], Earth sciences [RB]