Waves and Shakes

I realize that I've been m.i.a. lately - my life has been a bit hectic, and I have not been finding much time to sit down at my computer.

In relation to the recent earthquake in Chile I've added below a great animation regarding the tsunami done by NOAA. I was really frustrated watching the news on Saturday with their coverage of the tsunami. Media types (and I'd guess a great deal of their viewers) seem to think of tsunamis as tidal waves, and I think underscored the dangers inherent in a tsunami, especially one started with the amount of force and energy as this one.

Rising sea levels alone (that's a lot of displaced water) are a serious concern, especially in coastal areas without a great deal of shoreline topography and with a great deal of "development". A friend of mine is in Indonesia right now with his girlfriend and staying in a little hut on stilts on the water - the potential for them to get wiped out to sea, stranded in their hut, or something of the sort was relatively high on Saturday. They wound up chartering a boat, leaving the island, and going to another one where they could go "inland" from the coast and stay safer.



In addition to the initial concern related to rising sea level, you also have to consider that while tsunami waves might not look like much in some areas, they can be fairly strong, close together, and have a great deal of suction at the trough of the wave - which is how you get those beautiful backwards flowing waves that we saw up and down the California coast on Sunday. Any strong normal current and/or even a strong wind will cause the same effects, but a lot of people might think "huge wave" when they hear tsunami and see something only a few feet tall and throw caution to the wind.

I was slightly amused, but I suppose more frustrated and a little disgusted with the reaction of the news anchors once the tsunami waves reached Hawaii. I think some of them figured they would be able to report in real time as the islands were destroyed by waves (think Thailand 2004) and when the waves didn't go crashing over the coastal highways and knock over houses they were absolutely crestfallen. That's just ridiculous.

In other, and related news, here is a map that was in the NY Times last week - delineating where shoddy building construction can lead to humanitarian devastation post earthquake. This data was compiled prior to the January 12, 2010 quake in Haiti, but it is interesting to note that Port Au Prince is projected to have a "very strong" intensity quake. Other urban areas with significant urban populations that rank on "very strong" along with PauP: Cairo and Delhi (each with a population between 10 and 20 million people). There are no Chilean or American urban areas on this map - because our building practices tend to be significantly better than most countries in the Middle East or South East Asia.



Just something to think on.

Haiti Destruction Mapping

If you're like me and like maps then you might find this one interesting. Its a destruction map of Port-Au-Prince.

Do yourself a favor and check out The Guardian's post for an interactive experience with the map.

Haiti, Haiti, Haiti

While on the way to Death Valley on Tuesday night I checked my e-mail right before going out of cell range and was stunned by the e-mail alerts piling up in my inbox from GDACS. Right underneath the small island nation of Haiti the Earth apparently felt it needed a good rumble. And then another. And then another.

I read the geo/seismic data (that's all there was at that point) out loud to the car and discussions started. Haiti has been in the news for one reason or another off and on for years - political instability, poverty, food shortages, the effects of labor strikes in neighboring D.R., and of course lovely tropical storms (I used to avidly keep track of Haiti and the Dominican Republic while I was working because of a design project we were involved with in the D.R. and then again recently while applying for a job with one of the many NGOs that have taken up residence in Haiti). We came to two conclusions on Tuesday night: 1) my life would be very "interesting" if I had gotten that job in November (my sister's words) and 2) Haiti is basically screwed.

On Wednesday we stopped in a bar in Furnace Ranch and got a beer and watched the coverage of the quake on CNN - and I was reminded why I hate watching news coverage of humanitarian crises. These reporters have ZERO information, and won't be there informing the public of rebuilding and recovery for the next month or the next five years. While the news needs to be reported and people should know what is going on in the world, why can't these anchors bring on experts from aid organizations explaining to the American public the process that is about to be undertaken over the next several years? I realize that the shock value is so important, it gets your average 24 hour network news viewer/armchair do gooder to contribute much needed money to the Red Cross. I also realize that having someone get up on prime time and spell out what seems a hopelessly long time frame for rebuilding a country can be very overwhelming to viewers, but knowing how big the bucket is to fill, maybe that will help more people get involved either with donations or with time. I'm sure as time goes on the focus of the coverage will shift to be more inclusive of process, timeline, and the overall situation, and that a year from now every major news show will do a look back and show what progress has been made, but I can't help it if I want more educated news.

For those of you interested in more detailed news on Haiti, or humanitarian crisis emergencies here are some incredibly helpful links:

GDACS.org is one of my favorite web sites. Its the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System and is run by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They collect maps, reports, and situation reports from the field for workers in all of the major aid groups both government and private and post them all on this site.

Cameron Sinclair (CEO of Architecture for Humanity) wrote a great piece about Arch for Humanity's proposed timeline and goals in Haiti for HuffPo today. You can also follow him on twitter @casinclair

I also found this blog posting from an aid worker, detailing the constraints in Haiti that will be making life difficult for workers and survivors.