A stunning set of GNS images and information about the rockfalls and landslides caused by the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand

A first report of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan today

After the September 2010 Darfield earthquake I posted Malcolm Teesdale’s now famous image of distorted railway track. This post provides an update in light of the Christchurch earthquake, including an explanation as to why this type of deformation can occur in tracks.

A review of the latest information about rockfalls triggered by the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand

An examination of the key reasons why a comparatively small (mw = 6.3) earthquake has been responsible for such high losses in Christchurch, New Zealand

An initial evaluation of the Mw = 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand this morning.

This post highlights the forthcoming World Landslide Forum, and in particular invites contributions to a session that I am convening on the socio-economic impacts of landslides.

A report has just been released by the World Bank and the United Nations on the ecoonomics of disaster risk reduction. This post briefly reflects upon the key findings of this influential document.

Today has been a busy day in the natural hazards world. Last night in unrealted incidents a sinkhole opened without warning in central Germany and a landslide killed a small child and his mother in Italy. Meanwhile, Hurricane Tomas has caused widespread destruction in St Lucia and is still forecast to pass directly over the earthquake-affected areas of Haiti.

Indonesia is today trying to deal simultaneously with two substantial natural hazards of a rather different nature.  The earthquake on Monday 25th October triggered a localised tsunami in the Mentawai islands, close to the epicentre, the Reuters Alertnet reports killed 108 people and has left a further 502 people missing.  The data on the earthquake available on the USGS website suggest that this was a Mw=7.7 event at a depth of …