Earthquakes in Israel

From the Guardian Article: "An Israeli soldier searches in the rubble of a school during a drill simulating an earthquake in Holon, Israel, in 2012. More drills are expected soon. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP"

Recently, there have been a series of minor earthquakes in Israel. There have been six total in the last week. Most were too minor to even feel, but were recorded by seismologists. A few were big enough to notice, but none were big enough to cause any damage or injuries. The biggest one was at a magnitude of 3.6.

There is a fault line running through Israel, along with a few other countries like Syria and Turkey, as well as from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea and up the Jordan River Valley. This fault is the Dead Sea Transform and it separates the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. Apparently, there is a major earthquake approximately every 100 years or so along this fault, and the last really major earthquake was in 1837, which had a magnitude of 7.0 and killed 4,000 people. So they are quite overdue for another one. And even though it's impossible to predict when it will happen, Professor Amotz Agnon of the Earth Sciences Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said that this string of minor earthquakes is "a reminder that we are heading for a big earthquake." (NY Times) 

Because of these recent tremors, the government officials and scientists have not only been alerting the their citizens, but have also put into motion drills to practice evacuation and teaching them how to respond to an earthquake to increase safety and decrease the chances of human injury or loss. The biggest concern, however, is how the buildings have been constructed. Essentially, they are old buildings with weak materials that are very likely to collapse and cause injuries, so the public has been advised to run outdoors during an earthquake. There will be more drills in schools and public instruction will be updated. Money has been set aside to rebuild or retrofit these buildings, but unfortunately nothing has been done. 

I still think this is a good example of preparedness because even though they don't know when it will occur, they are getting the public ready to react and respond in case such a disaster does occur. They are taking steps to help decrease human loss and physical damage.

New York Times on the Israel Earthquakes
 Washington Post on the Israel Earthquakes
The Guardian on the Israel Earthquakes