When catastrophes collide
Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 14:30
in Earth & Climate
Japan's earthquake early warning system worked according to plan: the alarm was set off before the seismic waves reached Japan. The buildings were also able to withstand the tremors in many places, with most of the destruction caused by the tsunami. On the other hand, the nuclear crisis triggered as a result may be partly attributable to a failure to gauge accurately the intensity of possible quakes as well as risk analysis that was not comprehensive enough.