Related topics: world health organisation

Crowdsourcing speeds up earthquake monitoring

Data produced by internet users can help to speed up the detection of earthquakes. Fast and accurate information is essential in the case of earthquakes: Epicentre location, depth and magnitude are minimum requirements to ...

Researchers create marine biodiversity database

The world's epicentre of marine biodiversity is under threat. Researchers in the Philippines are developing a marine biodiversity database to help identify local hotspots requiring urgent management.

Tokyo prepares for the 'Big One'

Seen from atop the towering Tokyo Sky Tree, the patchwork of narrow alleyways and ramshackle houses that make up Tokyo's Sumida district is a picturesque throwback to the Japan of yesteryear.

Signs of three major Japan quakes before 2011

Three major earthquakes seem to have occurred in northern Japan before it was hit in March 2011 by a massive quake and tsunami, researchers said Wednesday based on new evidence.

Japan's mega-quake struck in small zone of fault: study

The deadly 9.0-magnitude quake that struck off northeastern Japan on March 11 ruptured a relatively small part of a notorious fault that straddles the Pacific seabed, Japanese scientists reported on Wednesday.

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Epicenter

The epicenter or epicentre (pronounced /ˈɛpɪsɛntər/) is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates. The word derives from the New Latin noun epicentrum, the latinisation of the ancient Greek adjective ἐπίκεντρος (epikentros), "occupying a cardinal point, situated on a centre", from ἐπί (epi) "on, upon, at" and κέντρον (kentron) "centre".

In the case of earthquakes, the epicenter is directly above the point where the fault begins to rupture, and in most cases, it is the area of greatest damage. However, in larger events, the length of the fault rupture is much longer, and damage can be spread across the rupture zone. For example, in the magnitude 7.9, 2002 Denali earthquake in Alaska, the epicenter was at the western end of the rupture, but the greatest damage occurred about 330 km away at the eastern end of the rupture zone.

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