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Moderate Earthquake NE of Ottawa

A moderate earthquake originally estimated as having a magnitude M=5.0, but later downgraded to 4.8 and then 4.4, has struck NE of Ottawa, Canada.  It was felt over a wide range of eastern Canada and the northeastern part of the United States.  By our calculations, it struck in a region of low probability.

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More Comments on Data Issues ("Wonkish")

As discussed in previous posts, incomplete or unavailable data can seriously impact the quality of earthquake forecasts. In our case, these problems are associated with the Global Digital Seismic Network, funded and maintained by the US National Science Foundation, and the US Geological Survey, among others.  The data catalogs also contain contributions from local networks in various countries.

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United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP)

This week the UN ESCAP group is holding a series of meetings in Bangkok aimed at disaster resilience and reduction of natural diasters for Asia and the Pacific.  A report and a website document the problems.  The report is particularly interesting in that it links natural disasters with financial disasters such as the current global crisis and suggests common approaches.

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And a Third Earthquake: The M7.8 Iran Earthquake of 4/16/2013

On monday April 16, a M7.8 earthquake struck near the borders of Iran, Pakistan and India.  Continuing on the theme of the last blog, the lack of small earthquake data in some regions of the globe is again illustrated.   The first figure below is a screen shot of the affected region.  Again, the radius of the circle is 243 km = 150 miles. 

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A Tale of Two Earthquakes (and their Data)

In the last day we have seen two earthquakes having magnitudes M>6.  The first was a M6.6 event near Ya'an, China, which, according to news accounts, killed more than 150 persons, and injured more than 5500.  The second earthquake was a M6.1 event that occurred in the Kamchatka region following a M6.9 earthquake on February 28.

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Southern California Changes April 10, 2013 (Blogging Again!)

Sorry about the long absence.  Been working on the new Open Hazards social networking site (more about that in a later post).  Time to revisit the changes in spatial contours at various locations in the world, starting with southern California.  I'll be presenting some of this at the Seismological Society of America meeting next week in Salt Lake City.

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Presentation at the March 6-8 APRU Senior Staff Meeting MultiHazards Panel

You can find my presentation to the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Senior Staff meeting at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan on March 7,  here.  Professor Yuichi Ono of Tohoku University gave a nice presentation of the Multihazards Initiative and the hub Institute at Tohoku University.  His presentation can be found here.

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Followup on the MultiHazards Initiative at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

Presented a summary of partnering opportunities at the senior staff meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, Tokyo, Japan, held at Waseda University on thursday March 7.  Then over to the US Embassy, Tokyo, to inform staffers there of the summer school to be conducted at Tohoku University in July (?) 2013.  Summer school will be for administrators and policy makers as planned at this time.  A field trip to the tsunami inundation area will also be held.  A great time and place to learn about disasters and what we can do about them.

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Organizing the Association of Pacific Rim Universities MultiHazards Initiative

This morning I got up at 5:00 am to drive down to San Francisco to catch a flight to Tokyo on my way to Sendai, Japan.  The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), an organization of the 42 leading universities around the Pacific Rim, are meeting next week in Tokyo to, in part, approve the plan to move ahead with the APRU MultiHazards Initiative.  To be headquartered at Tohoku University, the idea is to bring together the leading minds around the Pacific Rim to partner in the solution of problems relating to great disasters such as the March 11, 201

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Education, Natural Hazards, and Lesson Plans

Plans are afoot to produce lesson plans for educational purposes involving earthquakes and other natural hazards.  As a simple example, I posted a set of slides on the gallery section of this web site.  You can find them here or you can find them through the galleries.  They can be easily downloaded for use as needed.

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