This post explores whether Friday’s magnitude 9 earthquake in offshore Sendai in Japan was a surprising event from a geological perspective, concluding that there are few aspects of this event that have not been observed elsewhere before.

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.

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China remains the defining landslide event of the last three decades.  To commemorate this event, the State Key Laboratory of Geo-hazard Prevention (SKLGP) at the Chengdu University of Technology are organising a symposium entitled: An International Symposium on Earthquake Induced Landslides and Disaster Mitigation at the 3rd Anniversary of the Wenchuan Earthquake This will take place in Chengdu, China from 11th to 15th May 2011, including two …

The AGU Fall meeting started with a bang this morning with a 2 hour session on the Haiti earthquake. I am going to have a go at blogging live from the session using my iPad, so here goes. I am going to be careful to be general about what the speakers are saying so as not to compromise potential publications from them. First up is Eric Calais, who is now …

This is a general update email on a range of recent posts: 1. The railway line affected by the Canterbury Earthquake in New Zealand Yesterday I posted the image to the left of the deformation to a railway line were it crossed the surface expression of the fault that was responsible for the Canterbury Earthquake in New Zealand.  A number of people contributed to the discussion (thanks to you all) …

A recent post was centred on images of the fault rupture of the September 2010 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand. This post uses images provided by Malcolm Teasdale of Kiwirail to show the kine buckling that occurred on a railway track at the point that it crossed area of the surface fault expression close to Rolleston at the east end of the fault system.