Earthquake - Sichuan, China May 12, 2008

At 2:28 p.m local time, a 7.9 magnitudes earthquake struck the Sichuan Province of western China.

The major shocks occurred at a shallow depth of 10 to 30 Km, with hundreds of aftershocks, including a 5.1 quake today near Chongqing, throughout the mountainous region and the adjacent valley. These have lead to severe surface and structural damage in a highly populated region of over 10 million people.
[Image uploaded on May 13, 2008 by KoKoLo; Source Accessed May 20, 2008, Licensed CC-BY-NC-SA <http://flickr.com/photos/kokolo/2491151050/>]


The major earthquake and aftershocks occurred along a mountainous fault zone from southwest of the city of ChengDu northeast towards the city of Jiangyou, all along the western Sichuan Basin, a major agriculture center for China. The shallow nature of the quakes causes more surface motion from the s-waves as they reach ground level. The steep slopes of the mountainous areas are subject to greater instability and therefore greater damage.

The slide show below presents the vast enormity of this natural disaster:

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Humanitarian aid can be sent to the agencies, such as UNICEF, presented in the following brief slide show :

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In addition to UNICEF and the previous aid organizations mentioned, both Google and CNN have linked to web sites for making donations and to "Impact Your World".

[Image uploaded on May 14, 2008 by wang qian; Source Accessed May 20, 2008, Licensed CC-BY-NC-SA <http://flickr.com/photos/wang_qian_021386/2492872838/>]

Sichuan, China Earthquake Maps

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Earth Day 2008

Earth Day 20008 is next Tuesday the 22nd, however many events are taking place worldwide beginning this weekend. The EarthDay Network, established by the original founders of Earth Day, provides an abundance of information and resources for getting active.

In addition, The National Academies has released it's 2008 version of "Understanding and Responding to Climate Change" (pdf, 3.3 MB) and is providing free printed editions, also. The academies have also established a website, Safe Drinking Water is Essential, that highlights what I believe is the most pressing environmental issue facing the world today.

Speaking of pressing environmental issues, last summer, long time environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio released a documentary film entitled The 11th Hour. It phrases our current crises in the context of the opportunities they present the current generation coming of age. The trailer is embedded below:

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Science as a Democratizing Activity

Science Debate 2008 is an initiative aiming to bring the U.S. Presidential candidates together to discuss the role science plays in all of the issues that dominate the election, U.S society and its citizens.

Why is science important for anyone but the scientists?

"Science as a democratizing activity" is a phrase presented by Dr. Harold Varmus, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Discussed much more eloquently and passionately than I can do here, the video below is the Charlie Rose Science Series: The Imperative of Science (04/07/2008) with a distinguished panel that includes Dr. Varmus, Shirley Ann Jackson (President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Bruce Alberts (Editor-In-Chief of Science), Lisa Randall (Harvard University), and Sir Paul Nurse (President of Rockefeller University).

View the entire list of episodes of the Charlie Rose Science Series here. Although it is heavily focused on life sciences, and sponsored by Pfizer, it is well worth watching.

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