Mass Collaboration in Earthquake Risk Management

The mechanism of mass collaboration in risk management was studied during the Sichuan earthquake under a Web-based “PeopleFinder” project, where information is contributed and shared among mass contributors. The case study is provided by a great earthquake that happened in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, of southwestern China at 2:28 p.m. on May 12, 2008. We witnessed and experienced the rescue and relief efforts for the great earthquake. In this article, two fundamental frameworks are developed to study the mechanism of mass collaboration. Mass collaboration is proven to be effective in a big public crisis such as the Sichuan earthquake.     

New baseline environmental assessment of mosquito ecology in northern Haiti during increased urbanization

The catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti, led to the large‐scale displacement of over 2.3 million people, resulting in rapid and unplanned urbanization in northern Haiti. This study evaluated the impact of this unplanned urbanization on mosquito ecology and vector‐borne diseases by assessing land use and change patterns. Land‐use classification and change detection were carried out on remotely sensed images of the area for 2010 and 2013. Change detection identified areas that went from agricultural, forest, or bare‐land pre‐earthquake to newly developed and urbanized areas post‐earthquake. Areas to be sampled for mosquito larvae were subsequently identified. Mosquito collections comprised five genera and ten species, with the most abundant species being Culex quinquefasciatus 35% (304/876), Aedes albopictus 27% (238/876), and Aedes aegypti 20% (174/876). All three species were more prevalent in urbanized and newly urbanized areas. Anopheles albimanus, the predominate malaria vector, accounted for less than 1% (8/876) of the collection. A set of spectral indices derived from the recently launched Landsat 8 satellite was used as covariates in a species distribution model. The indices were used to produce probability surfaces maps depicting the likelihood of presence of the three most abundant species within 30 m pixels. Our findings suggest that the rapid urbanization following the 2010 earthquake has increased the amount of area with suitable habitats for urban mosquitoes, likely influencing mosquito ecology and posing a major risk of introducing and establishing emerging vector‐borne diseases.     

Impacts of Catastrophic Earthquakes on the Insect Communities in Estuarine Mangroves, Northern Taiwan

As a catastrophic earthquake is unpredictable and occurs only occasionally, impacts on biotic communities are seldom known. Monthly changes in insect communities in the mangroves along the Danshui Estuary were monitored for more than 3 years from before and after two catastrophic earthquakes in Taiwan the Chi–Chi earthquake (M_L = 7.3) of September 21, 1999 and the 3–31 earthquake (M_L = 6.8) of March 31, 2002. Here we show that the Chi–Chi earthquake not only caused large declines in total individual number but also total species number of insects. It also resulted in greater variability among samples, and shifts in insect communities. Non-biting midges and rove beetles, whose immatures inhabited the riparian underground or aquatic sediments, were most severely affected. By 7 months after the Chi–Chi earthquake, the insect communities had recovered to a level comparable to that before the earthquake. However, the influence of the 3–31 earthquake on the insect communities was less severe. It is concluded that the more-severe impacts of the Chi–Chi earthquake than the 3–31 earthquake can be attributable to differences in ground shaking, occurrence time, biodiversity, and growing conditions of insects at those times.     

汶川地震转运与震区住院患者回顾性对比分析

目的:探讨汶川地震转运与震区住院伤病员的特点和疾病谱.方法:采用“军卫一号“医院信息系统,收集整理三所军队医院收治汶川地震伤病员的诊疗信息.对比转运与震区住院伤病员的入院时间、基本情况和诊疗信息的差异.结果:震后第2日震区住院伤病员入院人数最多,为394人;前4日占震后10日内入院人数的80.6％.全部住院伤病员男性730人,占56.5％,女性562人,占43.5％;汉族占95％,羌族、藏族及其他民族占5％;已婚占76.4％;手术率为36.5％;住院天数的中位数为12天;治愈好转率为96.5％,病死率为1％.转运与震区住院伤病员的性别、年龄组、民族、手术与否和治疗结果构成差异具有统计学意义(P＜0.05);震区住院伤病员组的住院天数中位数低于转运住院伤病员组(P＜0.00l).按照出院第一诊断,损伤或中毒住院伤病员占81.5％;其他疾病前五位为消化系统疾病、呼吸系统疾病、肌肉骨骼和结缔组织疾病、循环系统疾病、症状和体征.结论:地震等灾害后应尽早(灾后3-5天)转运伤病员.震区一线医院和接收转运伤病员医院应科学、合理设置床位、安排陪护人员、招募志愿者.地震第一阶段医疗救援完成后,救援重点应转向内科和慢性疾病,并提前做好应医疗准备.     

REACTION OF FIN WHALES BALAENOPTERA PHYSALUS TO AN EARTHQUAKE

ABSTRACT

Whales living within seismically active regions are subject to intense disturbances from strong sounds produced by earthquakes that can kill or injure individuals. Nishimura & Clark (1993) relate the possible effects of underwater earthquake noise levels in marine mammals, adducing that T-phase source signal level (10- to 30- Hz range) can exceed 200 dB re: 1 μPa at 1 m, for a magnitude 4–5 earthquake, sounds audible to fin whales which produce low frequency sounds of 16–20/25–44 Hz over 0.5–1s, typically of 183 dB re: 1 μPa at 1 m. Here we present the response of a fin whale to a 5.5 Richter scale earthquake that took place on 22 February 2005, in the Gulf of California. The whale covered 13 km in 26 min (mean speed = 30.2 km/h). We deduce that the sound heard by this whale might have triggered the costly energy expenditure of high speed swimming as a seismic-escape response. These observations support the hypothesis of Richardson et al. (1995) that cetaceans may flee from loud sounds before they are injured, when exposed to noise in excess of 140 dB re: 1 μPa 1 m.     

汶川地震重灾区恢复期生态系统健康评价

2008年的汶川地震对区域生态系统造成了显著破坏。为了解震后区域生态系统恢复情况,从而为震区生态恢复策略提供科学依据,利用遥感数据研究了四川省汶川地震重灾区39区县2010—2015年的生态系统类型及活力变化,并运用In VEST模型评估了震区土壤保持、水源涵养、生境质量等生态系统服务能力,最后基于VOR模型并耦合关键生态系统服务定量评估了震区生态系统健康状况。结果表明:2010—2015年间震区湿地和城镇面积有所增加,植被和农田有不同程度的减少,但是Ⅹ—Ⅺ地震烈度等级区域内森林面积增加1309.77 hm2;震区生态系统活力均值明显上升,Ⅹ—Ⅺ地震烈度级别区生态系统活力增幅最明显,分别为14.84%、12.47%;水源涵养能力稍有降低,减幅0.46%,土壤保持服务增幅1.26%,生境质量指数无明显变化;生态系统健康指数(EHI)均值有小幅度提升,从0.6761上升到0.6853,增幅1.36%,Ⅹ—Ⅺ地震烈度级别区EHI增幅比其他地区明显,增幅分别为4.01%、3.48%,表明受灾最严重的地区生态恢复比较显著。但是,由于震区重建开发导致局部区域如宝兴、汉源、石棉、涪城、广汉、汶川西北部和震区北部部分区域EHI下降。未来应继续保持Ⅹ—Ⅺ地震烈度级别区良好的生态恢复趋势,同时也要重视震区中部平原地区的基本农田保护和南部、北部地区的自然生态空间保护工作,维持震区生态系统健康和区域可持续发展。     

新疆地震断裂带次生植物根际土壤微生物碳源利用

利用BIOLOG技术研究了新疆富蕴地震断裂带6种次生植物对根际土壤微生物碳源利用的影响.结果表明:多数植物根际土壤养分显著高于对照.6种根际土壤的平均颜色变化率差异显著,且均高于对照.次生植物不影响根际土壤微生物碳源利用的丰富度,但改变了其优势度和均匀度.不同处理根际土壤微生物碳源利用存在差异,主要体现在对糖类、氨基酸类、羧酸类的利用上.断裂带上次生植物的出现使土壤微生物利用碳源的类型由酚类向糖类、羧酸类转变.土壤速效钾含量与土壤微生物对聚合物(r=-0.84)、胺类(r=-0.83)的利用呈负相关.新疆地震断裂带的次生植物能显著增强土壤微生物的碳源利用能力,改变碳源利用类型.密刺蔷薇和蓍在提高土壤微生物碳源利用能力和改善土壤养分方面效果最佳.