Bill McGuire: 'A global databank could warn of natural disasters'

If world governments could turn to a central information source on natural disasters, many lives could be saved through better preparedness

Devastating natural disasters have killed close to a million people and caused billions of pounds of damage in the past few years. Despite its sophisticated technology, humanity remains hugely vulnerable to earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and other calamities. The danger is only likely to increase, say geologists and weather experts. Earth's swelling numbers are forcing more and more people to live in geological and meteorological danger zones. As a result, death tolls are destined to rise.

In addition, human impact on the climate, which is warming relentlessly as more and more carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere from cars, factories and power stations, will also worsen the problem. At higher latitudes, melting glaciers and ice sheets will modify the pressures acting on tectonic plates and volcanoes, potentially provoking more earthquakes and eruptions, while rising sea levels will leave many regions more vulnerable to hurricanes and storms.

Our planet needs help, badly, and Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, believes he has a solution. We need a global clearing house in which details of all major natural threats are stored, evaluated and updated. All governments and other stakeholders can access the repository to obtain specific information on the hazards that threaten them, whether storm, quake, volcanic blast or tsunami, he says.

There have been several recent catastrophes, including earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and Japan. Would the global clearing house you propose have helped lower their death tolls?

Not in every case. The earthquake in Japan, which triggered the tsunami on 11 March, arose from a geological fault that was not thought to be capable of releasing such devastating energies. The Christchurch earthquake in February, which killed more than 180 people, was set off by a fault that geologists did not even know about.

For More Information:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/08/earthquake-tsunami-early-warning