未來可能發(fā)生地震的地區(qū)

地震難以避免，但是我們至少可以做到把損失降到最低；海地當前的最大災難來源于大面積坍塌的建筑，5.12地震中最令人痛心的也是質量不過關的建筑倒塌事件；下面文章中也不止一次提到了加強建筑條例這個問題，希望將來在這些地震多發(fā)地帶能有更好更完善的預防措施，醫(yī)院、學校、公寓等地方能成為地震襲來是安全的避難所。

　　Los Angeles 洛杉磯

　　Earthquakes have always been part of Los Angeles' past — and its future. The geologic record indicates that huge quakes occur roughly every 150 years in theregion. Los Angeles has done a lot to beef up its building codes and emergency response in the 15 years since the Northridge quake andmay be better prepared than any other major U.S. city, but its sheersize ensures that the next Big One will be bloody。

　　過去，地震對于洛杉磯來說是家常便飯，將來也是這樣。地址記錄顯示這一地區(qū)大地震發(fā)生頻率大約為每一百五十年一次。自從1994年北嶺大地震，這15年來洛杉磯從未放松過規(guī)范建筑條例和增強應急措施，因此比起其他美國大城市，在這方面準備都更加充分，但由于面積關系，如若發(fā)生大地震，后果仍然不可估量。

　　Tokyo 東京

　　Japan's four main islands get hit regularly with earthquakes of varying strength, and most Japanese live in extraordinarily dense cities. That puts more people squarely in a danger zone — nowhere more so than in the capital of Tokyo, which has a population of 13 million.A major quake struck the city and its surroundings in 1923, killing asmany as 150,000 people. Although Japan has vastly improved its infrastructure since then and has the strictest building codes in the world, a similar temblor — which seismologists believe is almost inevitable — could kill more than 10,000 people and cause more than $1 trillion in damages。

　　日本四個主要島嶼經(jīng)常遭受不同強度的地震襲擊，而且大部分日本人居住在人口密度相當大的城市，這意味著有更多人分布在危險區(qū)域——尤其是東京，人口高達一千三百萬。1923年一場地震發(fā)生在東京和周邊地區(qū)，導致十五萬人喪生。雖然自那時起日本加強了基礎設施建設，其建筑條例之嚴格性也位居世界之首，一場類似的地震——地震學家認為無可避免——也會導致一萬多人喪生，并造成超過一萬億美元損失。

　　Tehran 德黑蘭

　　Allof Iran lies within a major earthquake zone, and the country hassuffered terrible temblors before. But a similar quake in the congestedcapital of Tehran would be a shattering catastrophe. Unlike building codes in other endangered cities such as San Francisco and Tokyo, Tehran's are relatively lax, and many residents live in the sort of unreinforced-concretehouses that turn into death traps in the event of a strong quake. TheIranian Health Ministry once estimated that a 7-magnitude quake woulddestroy 90% of the city's hospitals。

　　整個伊朗地處一個主要地震帶，也經(jīng)歷過多次地震襲擊。然而在人口擁堵的首都德黑蘭，一次這樣的地震可能成為翻天覆地的大災難。不像其他經(jīng)歷過地震的城市如舊金山、東京，德黑蘭的建筑條例并不嚴格，許多人住在未經(jīng)加固的混凝土建筑中，如若發(fā)生地震，那里立刻就會成為死亡地帶。伊朗衛(wèi)生部部長曾說過，一場七級地震就可能毀掉德黑蘭90%的醫(yī)院。

　　Pacific Northwest 西北太平洋沿岸

　　Cascadia sits on top of major faults, and although it doesn't get hit very often, the region has seen massive quakes before. The geologic record indicates that a catastrophic quakehits Cascadia only about every 500 years, but the cities of the PacificNorthwest, like Seattle and Vancouver, are far less prepared than SanFrancisco and Los Angeles for a major earthquake, so when the nextpowerful temblor comes around, the region could suffer。

　　卡斯開底亞地區(qū)位于主要斷層的高處，雖然不長發(fā)生地震，歷史上也曾有過大地震襲擊。地質記錄表明這里每500年才會發(fā)生毀滅性的地震。西北太平洋沿岸的城市，如西雅圖和溫哥華，都不像舊金山和洛杉磯那樣對地震準備充足，所以下一次爆發(fā)大地震時，這一塊地區(qū)很可能受災嚴重。

　　Indonesia 印尼

　　It's called the Ring of Fire, a semicircle of violently shifting plates and volcanoes that runs along the edges of the Pacific Ocean, from New Zealand to Chile. The most seismically active region on the planet, the Ring of Fire has triggered countless quakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.Indonesia, a region that has been hit repeatedly by massive temblors,most recently a 7.6 earthquake in September that killed more than 1,000people. Sadly that's a relatively small quake death toll by Indonesianstandards — and seismologists expect more to come in the future。

　　這里被稱為火圈帶，從新西蘭到智利，一個半圓形的急速移動板塊和火山群綿延于太平洋上，使之成為地球上最容易發(fā)生地震的區(qū)域?；鹑е幸呀?jīng)發(fā)生過無數(shù)次地震、火山爆發(fā)和海嘯。印尼是一個反復遭受地震襲擊的地方，最近的一次是在九月份，震級7.6，一千多人喪生。不過根據(jù)印尼一貫的標準來看，這個死亡人數(shù)還太不足道——地震學家認為未來會發(fā)生更可怕的地震。