Big quake hopscotched across faults

摘要

A seemingly impossible earthquake that rattled New Zealand last November casts doubt on how well seismologists can forecast quakes involving multiple faults. Retracing the path of the magnitude 7.8 temblor using satellite and seismic data, researchers discovered that the quake involved at least 12 major faults and was far more widespread and powerful than predicted by seismic hazard assessments. Such assessments are crucial to designing earthquake-resistant buildings.