Science and Sense to Seismic Risk Reduction
(WorldNews Environment)

22 Sep 2017 In many parts of the world, people have a fatalistic attitude to hazards and risks, sometimes claiming acts of god when disaster strikes. But when we examine how hazards turn into disasters, the results are often human-made. Take for instance the recent landslide in Sierra Leone in which an entire hillside gave way under intense rain, burying hundreds of houses under thick mud, killing over 500 people. The houses and dwellings had been built without sufficient drainage, nor with any consideration to the geological hazard of the hillside. The poorest dwellings, which outnumbered the bricks and mortar homes, were built without regulation, crowded into a small space and lacked safe...