Preparing For The Next Deadly Earthquake

Powerful earthquakes hit Japan and Ecuador. We’ll look at vulnerability and preparedness around the world—and here in the USA.

Earthquake destruction on both sides of the Pacific in the last handful of days. First Japan, quake upon quake. Forty-plus dead. 100,000 evacuees. Weird foam in the streets. A castle wall, down in the moat. Then, across the "Ring of Fire," Ecuador. A 7.8 magnitude monster. More than 400 dead. Terrible destruction. The Earth moves and shakes all the time.  Sometimes devastatingly. Up next On Point: Earthquake time in Japan and Ecuador, and preparedness here, at home.
-Tom Ashbrook 

Sara Schaefer Muñoz, Latin America Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. (@sarasmunoz)

Gavin Hayes, geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information center at the U.S. Geological Survey.

Kit Miyamoto, leads Miyamoto International and Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief. He's also a California Seismic Safety Commissioner.

Lucy Jones, seismologist known as "The Earthquake Lady." Recently retired from the US Geological Survey. Visiting Research Associate at the Seismological Laboratory at Caltech. On the Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council. (@DrLucyJones)

Five things to know about the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes — First question: Are the Ecuador and Japan earthquakes related? (CNN)

Why do so many earthquakes strike Japan? — "For starters, Japan is located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which is the most active earthquake belt in the world. This "ring" is actually an imaginary horseshoe-shaped zone that follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where many of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur." (CBS News)

A picture of devastation in Ecuador after deadly 7.8 quake — "Although Guayaquil sustained significant damage, the hardest-hit cities were along the coast farther north. In Pedernales, population 48,000, local media reported that 80% of the buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. A majority of the deaths from the quake were reported to have occurred there, although officials had not released specific locations of deaths as of Sunday afternoon." (Los Angeles Times)