Major World Earthquakes

However, there are problems. The main problem associated with a nuclear power station is that the reactor produces highly radioactive waste materials. These waste materials are difficult to store and cannot be disposed of very easily. Also, leaks of radioactive material have occurred at various sites throughout the world. Accidents at a small number of nuclear power stations, such as Three Mile Island in the US (1979) and Chernobyl in the Ukraine (1986) have led to a great deal of concern about their safety. More recently, in March 2011 a major nuclear accident happened at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in northern Japan. On this occasion the accident was not caused as a result of the plant itself undergoing a problem, but as a result of an earthquake near Japan that gave rise to a tsunami. This damaged essential... 

In Detroit, economic turbulence is as natural a disaster as earthquakes are in California. No other city has gone through as many ups and downs as Detroit. The boom cycle started with the birth of the automobile, and between 1905 and 1924 well-paid immigrants filled the assembly lines for Henry Ford s auto factories. The Great Depression in 1929 crippled the industry, sending its workers into poverty. The plants came back online during World War II when the city became a major supplier of military equipment, and the city s outlook was rosy once again. 

Extreme poverty is the daily reality of very many of the world s people Even without the effects of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and landslides, the immediate prospects for both the urban and rural poor in many parts of the world are bleak, with little or no access to even the most basic of infrastructure, education and healthcare, and with little, or at best tenuous, legal tenure to land or property [10]. That this is a situation of major injustice, that engineers have the skills to ameliorate this injustice, and that this gives rise to at the very least an oppoitunity of professional capabilities, provide the basic motivations for taking an active role in such poverty reduction. 

All major faults located in regions where strong earthquakes have occurred should be regarded as potentially active unless convincing evidence exists to the contrary (Sherard et al., 1974). In stable areas of the world, little evidence exists of notable fault displacements in the recent past. Nevertheless, an investigation should be carried out to confirm the absence of active faults at or near any proposed major dam in any part of the world. 

Toyota practiced 100% JIT supply system with a sole source brake supplier. A major fire in February 1997 destroyed the brake plant and disrupted the production in 20 Toyota assembly plants worldwide costing 1.8 billion in lost sales. A 17-day strike in March 1996 at the Delphi brake plant in Dayton, Ohio shut down 26 GM s North American assembly plants and it cost nearly 1 billion to the company s first quarter earnings (Fitzgerald, 1996). The earthquake that struck Taiwan on September 21, 1999 knocked out the production of memory chips, circuit boards, and other components. It impacted 50% of the world s supplies to major computer manufacturers and their earnings dropped by 5%. Investors reacted more negatively to "Pull-type" supply chains (Dell, Gateway) as opposed to Push-t5qje" supply chains (IBM and Compaq). 

In 2010 the rebirth of the nuclear power industry seemed to be taking off. New power reactors were being discussed and ordered in many countries aroimd the world. However, on March 11,2011, a major magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan followed... 

One of the major inputs necessary for earthquake casualty estimation is a correlation between the number and severity of injuries and the damage level of the structures. This is not easily attainable due to the limited quality and lack of information in earthquake casualty data. Several studies that proposed casualty rates with respect to various building types and damage levels are available in the literature (e.g. Coburn and Spence 1992). However, casualty rates derived for other regions of the world... 

Cornell, C. A. and Vanmarcke, E. H. The major influences on seismic risk. Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Santiago, Chile, 1969. 

International Association for Earthquake Engineering (I AEE) http //www.iaee.or.jp/ (accessed November 3, 2010). Although based in Japan, this is an international society with national and regional activities which organizes major international conferences, supports a journal (Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics), and produces the definitive earthquake-resistant regulations world list. 

NHKWorld.2011 Dailynewsbroadcasted on September 1, 2011, Tokyo drills for major earthquake. NffK World online, http //www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/. 

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