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| Environmental and Engineering Geoscience |  |
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1
1 Geological Engineering Department, Kocaeli University, 
zmit, Turkey
Earthquakes can be one of the most devastating natural hazards on earth. Historical and instrumental earthquakes should be well investigated with a scientific approach to understand this behavior of the earth. Consequently, there are many books, reports, and articles about earthquakes. This book, After the Earth Quakes, by Susan Elizabeth Hough and Roger G. Bilham, deals with the large and sometimes devastating historical and instrumental earthquakes and their impacts on individuals and societies, along with the development of earthquake science. The theme of the book focuses mainly on societal response to earthquake disasters. Additionally, the book informs the reader of progress in seismology leading to new developments in the understanding of earthquakes.
The chapters of the book chronicle earthquakes from 1755 to 2004. Geographically, one earthquake in Europe Lisbon, Portugal, three in the United States New Madrid, Missouri, Charleston, SC San Francisco, CA, one in Japan Kanto, and one in the Indian Ocean Sumatra are discussed. The chapters dealing with the individual historic earthquakes start with the 1755 Lisbon earthquake because the birth of seismology happened on account of this earthquake. The 18111812 New Madrid earthquakes in the Mississippi Valley and the 1886 Charleston, SC, earthquakes are described in the following chapters as historical earthquakes. In the next two chapters, the 1906 San Francisco, CA, earthquake and the 1923 Kanto, Japan, earthquake are explained as examples of highly destructive instrumental earthquakes. The following chapter describes the tsunami effects of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake.
The subject mentioned in the title of the book, Elastic Rebound, carries two meanings. The first meaning implies the theory explaining the occurrence of earthquakes, and the second meaning is the response of humans in the face of earthquakes. This response includes actions of societies and governments to initiate more precautionary efforts for the next earthquake and the actions of scientists to undertake further research into earthquakes in general.
Each chapter in the book starts with one or two prefaces from either named or anonymous sources. The stories of the people who survived or lived through the earthquakes are given as notes in the chapters. The book is well written, organized, and expresses the subject very well from the first to last chapter. Each chapter discusses a different topic, and chapters are relevant and well suited to each other. Each chapter carries relevant information that matches its title, and the subject research in the chapters is performed professionally throughout the book. Historical documentation was carried out in detail for the historic earthquakes. Each chapter is supported with a varying number of figures 211, such as graphics, sketches, drawings, maps, satellite images, and photos the figures are highly supportive objects for explaining the subjects in the chapters. Almost 50 percent of the figures are constructed from photos showing earthquake effects on the landscape and buildings and various designs of buildings. Together with the figures, each chapter contains prefaces, tables, notes, and sidebars providing additional information on the subject under discussion.
The book consists of 14 chapters followed by Notes and Suggested Readings and an alphabetical index. Notes and Suggested Readings lists the notes in consecutive numbers and suggested readings in alphabetical order for each chapter. The titles of the 14 chapters appropriately specify the subject of each chapter
The impacts of large earthquakes and their scientific and societal reverberations are explained in Chapter 1, which also includes a short history of past earthquakes across the different regions of the world and another section containing a brief overview of plate tectonics and the origins of earthquakes. The earthquakes dating back to ancient times and their impacts on the ancient cultures are described in Chapter 2. The differences in rubble cleanup efforts and dwelling types between ancient and modern times are compared. Chapter 3 describes the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and its impacts on society and individuals, scientific investigations for earthquake analysis, rescue efforts, and the recovery of Lisbon aided by the state government. Chapter 4 explains the 18111812 New Madrid earthquakes that occurred midcontinent in North America and includes a history of the New Madrid settlers and the geological structure of the region. Every aspect of the earthquakes is given in detail.
Chapter 5 describes developments in 18th and 19thcentury seismology and includes a discussion of the Great Neapolitan earthquake of 1857 and the lives and studies of the earliest founding fathers of seismology, Robert Mallet and Richard Oldham. The 1886 Charleston, SC, earthquake is explained in Chapter 6. The first part of the chapter details the societal rebound of Charleston after the earthquake, and the second part concentrates on the scientific impacts of the earthquake.
Chapter 7 begins with the effects, response and rescue efforts, damages, and scientific investigations of the April 18, 1906, San Francisco, CA, earthquake. The chapter continues with the development of the Elastic Rebound Theory and the morphological and geological features of the San Andreas Fault System. The Kanto earthquake, a result of subductiontype plate motion, is explained in Chapter 8. This earthquake was one of the most devastating in an urban population center in the 20th century, causing much loss of life and property and forced authorities to institute stricter building codes, improve earthquake monitoring, and undertake earthquake science research in Japan.
Chapter 9 covers the topics related to hazards in the Caribbean Islands. The first part of the chapter talks about the hazards affecting the Caribbean Islands, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The first part is followed by an overview of the Caribbean earthquake history. The chapter also describes the tectonic location of the Caribbean Plate. Tsunamis are discussed in Chapter 10, particularly the recent tsunami following the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, which destroyed the coastal parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. Chapter 11 focuses not only on the response of Californian society to earthquakes but also to other types of disasters such as forest fires, landslides, debris flows, floods, and storms affecting southern California.
The power of earthquakes forces societies to renew or rebuild their structures and infrastructures either with their own resources or with international financial aid Chapter 12. Chapter 13 states the demographic figures of the earth between 100 B.C. and the 21st century, showing that the human population of the world doubled about four times in the 2,000years since 100 B.C. the majority of the population increase has occurred in the last 200years. This population increase, and its concentration along the earthquake belts, results in more people living in earthquakeprone areas. These factors indicate high human losses in future major earthquakes.
The final chapter of the book is The Age of Construction, which discusses past and present construction habits in and around the earthquake belts. This chapter starts with the highly valuable words of Nick Ambraseys Earthquakes dont kill peoplebuildings do. The chapter also expresses differences between construction habits and codes in industrial and developing nations and the consequent high loss of property and human life in the developing countries. In the latest severe earthquakes throughout the world, most of the property damage and human loss occurred in the developing countries because of building types, construction codes, earthquake severity, settlements located in earthquake prone areas, and insufficient rescue efforts. The 1999 Kocaeli earthquake caused by the North Anatolian Fault in northwest Turkey took many lives and caused considerable property damage for these reasons.
In conclusion, the book can be classified as an outstanding reference for earthquake science because it is highly informative about some major historical and instrumental earthquakes and their societal impacts as explained by accounts, notes, and citations. The book does not possess the usual text book format rather it is a historic and scientific document harmonized with scientific and historic data and information and provides important explanations that enlighten the development of seismology and our understanding of this phenomenon. The difference of the book from other earthquake references is that it covers societal and individual responses to the earthquakes and their stories and experiences about earthquakes as well as the scientific investigations. Also, the book provides explanations about the birth and development of seismology and plate tectonics of active earthquake regions.
REFERENCES CITED
Hough, S.E, and Bilham, R.G, 2006, After the Earth Quakes: Elastic Rebound on an Urban Planet, New York Oxford University Press. 321.
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