Preparing for disasters

摘要

Earthquakes are not predictable, and they certainly are not preventable. So how can engineers responsible for lifeline facilities prepare for these often devastating natural disasters? In late January, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) sent three teams of engineers to the tsunami disaster zone in Southern Asia to help answer that question. They visited Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India to collect firsthand information on the massive damage wreaked by the December 2004 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 400,000 people missing or dead in hundreds of coastal communities.