Hi all
Something I remember from my University days (Reading UK where I studied
Geology) was one of our lecturers studying this topic. The Chinese were
pre-eminent of the study of natural events that might allow them to
predict an earthquake. However, the Chinese gave up these efforts in
1976. In a visit to China in 1980, he found out why.
The Chinese had found that dogs and chickens were the best animals to
study, and they would often behave differently, barking and crowing
(respectively of course) up to 3 days before an earthquake. In one
instance they collected so much evidence, they evacuated a town of 250
000 to a provincial city 30 km away. I can't remember the name of the
town. Unfortunately the city was called Tangshan.
A day or so later, the town was rocked by an earthquake of 6 on the
Richter scale. They estimated that had the people remained, over 10 000
would have been killed.
What they failed to predict was the fact that the epicentre was under
Tangshan, where 750 000 people died and the quake measured 7.6 on the
Richter scale. Apparently only around 100 000 people ever returned to
the town.
So while it may be possible to predict roughly when and where an
earthquake may hit, you need much more detailed information if you are
to avoid a disaster.
It is quite notable that few people have attempted to predict
earthquakes since 1976 - the year of the Tangshan earthquake.
Giles
-------------------------
Giles Mulholland
Phone: +27 (13) 733-3177
Fax: +27 (13) 733-3177
Cell: +27 (83) 411-2424
Postal: P.O. Box 162 Schagen, 1207, South Africa
E-mail:
Web: www.4-siteplanning.com
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Penny
Drake-Brockman
Sent: Sunday 02 January 2005 13:21
To: Edwin Vella
Cc: 'Syd Curtis';
Subject: Tsunami
Edwin, and all
On this subject of animals have foreknowledge of catastrophic weather
events, a friend was telling me this afternoon that when he was a child
living in WA, at least 10 hours before a violent cyclone hit, all
animals, including their chooks, had vanished. Next day, the chooks were
back pecking among the wreckage. We seem to have lost this ability.
>
>
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