One useful and exciting tool available to scientists is the real time earthquake monitor provided by the USGS (US Geological Survey).
*****Earthquakes in Real Time (please click to open a new window and play around)*****
Having this information available can be incredibly useful, and allows prediction and preparation for the communities which regularly experience earthquakes.
However, many of the places that are hit with earthquakes are poor countries with little infrastructure to prepare for them.
An Earthquake which hit Haiti in 2010 demonstrates an example of the devastation a single seismic event can cause without proper access to infrastructure, information, and preparation.
So what happens? What tools are available to predict these disasters? Who has access to them, and is that a problem? Looking at science as a cultural enterprise means paying attention to the effectiveness of our research, and if our research of earthquakes is beneficial to the people actually affected by them.
*****Earthquakes in Real Time (please click to open a new window and play around)*****
Having this information available can be incredibly useful, and allows prediction and preparation for the communities which regularly experience earthquakes.
However, many of the places that are hit with earthquakes are poor countries with little infrastructure to prepare for them.
An Earthquake which hit Haiti in 2010 demonstrates an example of the devastation a single seismic event can cause without proper access to infrastructure, information, and preparation.
So what happens? What tools are available to predict these disasters? Who has access to them, and is that a problem? Looking at science as a cultural enterprise means paying attention to the effectiveness of our research, and if our research of earthquakes is beneficial to the people actually affected by them.
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