Whole Lotta Shakin'

NPR's Liane Hansen speaks with Roger Bilham, a seismologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, to ask why earthquakes and other natural disasters are deadlier and more destructive than they were a couple of hundred years ago... Turns out demography of growing populations has more to do with the rising death tolls than the geography at point of impact.

Audio: NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, 2/28/10.

Around the world, an earthquake is felt approximately every 30 seconds... Scientists say it’s only a matter of where & when, not if, the next big quake occurs, and it could happen along the United States' Pacific Coast.

But Dr. John Ebel, director of the Weston Observatory at Boston College, says earthquakes can’t be predicted, and it’s not always possible to say whether one earthquake triggers another, or is part of a cluster.

Audio: BBC, PRI & WBUR's Here & Now 3/1/10, Host: Robin Young.