Julia:
This week I have been reading up on the background and history of Nepal's seismicity. I did this because it seemed to fit in really well with the guest lecture from last week, which was all about earthquakes and seismology. I have been learning about the geology in Nepal and why it is so prone to earthquakes. Apparently Nepal is not only located right on top of a very seismically active fault, but it was also built on top of the extremely soft earth. The land consists mainly of sand, clay and gravel. Researchers dug down into the earth and found that the soil in the central part of Katmandu is very soft up to a depth of about 20 meters.
Laura and Sanam:
This past week we met to discuss our group partnership. Given the time constraints, we had to cut our portion down a bit and get more focus. For our portion, we'll be examining geospatial techniques (GIS, remote sensing and GPS) in disaster response. Laura will be coming at it from the perspective of an emergency manager, rather than an economist; while Sanam will put his expertise in geography and local perceptions reflected by his community members during and after the event. We'll look into the ways in which GIS can be used in emergency management, then look at how it was actually used in Nepal by a disaster response agency. Then, we can see if there are any potential holes that GIS could help fill.
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