Open Hazards Group forecast a probability of less than 1% that an earthquake the size of the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake would occur within a 100 km radius of the actual location. Why?

You’re walking across a street when you notice a car speeding toward you. Will it hit you?

Think. Where are you in relation to the speeding car? Does the driver see you? Will you make it across the street to safety by continuing at your walking pace? Or, should you break into a run?

You realize the driver doesn’t seem to notice you, and the car isn’t slowing down. You also realize that, unless you run you’ll be run over. You immediately break into a run, and reach the sidewalk just as the car speeds by you.

Thousands of people in the Vanch region of Tajikistan are homeless in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude 5.3 earthquake. The quake caused massive damage, even though its size is considered “moderate.” Major damage and/or outright collapse of roughly 1,050 mudbrick homes in the wake of the quake have left 20,000 people without shelter. Two schools and a clinic were also destroyed, and electricity supplies and communications were cut off by the quake.

Data collection, storage and retrieval are vital functions of any modern business, large or small. In the United States, 99% of roughly 29.6 million businesses are small firms (fewer than 500 employees). We would expect that most of the country’s 18,000 large corporations to have hardened data facilities with bullet-proof business continuity plans – and given the high level of reliance on data integrity, that small businesses would follow suit. But that’s not necessarily the case.

Here's our first update on the December 19, 2009 Taiwan earthquake: OpenHazards Group, Inc. has translated reports from the China Times, which features excerpts from other Chinese newspapers.