Passing the Rubicon

Yesterday I finally got the good news that my company will be changing my contract so that I will officially be a consultant of the Urban Environment Section. It's been almost a year since I participated in a project in Thailand, so I was wondering when I'd be able to get my other foot in the door. Luckily, we are entering a new project cycle and I am ahead of the wave, so I'll be positioned to take part of a team on a new project.

This past week I've been doing a lot of research for a report on geology and plate tectonics around West Sumatra in Indonesia. It's been interesting to read about these beautiful places in that area, but also horrible to read about the destruction they have experienced at the mercy of Mother Nature. Since Indonesia lies along a convergence of three plates that are pushing together, another earthquake of extreme magnitude (i.e. 9+) is predicted within the next 20 years. According to Kerry Sieh, the leading expert on earthquakes (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~sieh/publications.htm), this could happen tomorrow or it could happen 20 years from now, but it's almost certain to occur. So now the question is, how to prepare for it? How to educate people who live in this hot zone? With all the hero movies these days (Ironman, Dark Night, Hancock, etc), this is truly a story of saving the lives of an estimated 200,000. During the research, I also found a great little resource at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (http://www.mnh.si.edu/explore.html) where you can learn about all sorts of things (and see samples and displays online) at the click of a button.