Living on an Active Earth: Perspectives on Earthquake Science

Citation

Wilson, H.C. (2004), "Living on an Active Earth: Perspectives on Earthquake Science", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 179-179. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2004.13.2.179.1

Living on an unstable planet makes for dangerous living. The recent earthquake at Bam in Iraq reminds us that we live on a planet which is inherently unstable. The destructive forces of earthquakes and their origins have always intrigued scientists, but it was not until the mid 19th century that instrumental recording of earthquakes were first made. The mechanisms of the generation of seismic waves was not identified until the beginning of the 20th century. From these observations arose the science of seismology and this book charts the rise and achievements of this new scientific discipline.

This text is the cumulative report of the Committee on the Science of Earthquakes which was funded by the National Academies and was charged with assessing the current knowledge of earthquake processes, the facilitation of multidisciplinary research, and the physical sciences on the origins, properties, and consequences of earthquakes, as well as to assess research goals, support for engineering and public policy, and to identify strategies to improve communications within the wider aspects of the discipline.

Bearing this in mind I approached the reading of the text with some trepidation, but I found the text well written with the more difficult elements of the underlying science well referenced for those who wish, or need, to delve deeper. The text is extremely well supported by diagrams and photographs which help the reader understand the science.

The committee has discharged the set aims in a truly admirable fashion and lay readers should not be put off from acquiring new knowledge from this text.