Earth Observatory of Singapore

Spotlight: Nepal

Annual Report 2016
Nepal is the home to stunning landscapes and the tallest mountain range in the world. It is also the site of the largest active continental thrust fault called the Main Frontal Thrust. The collision of the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian plate, which began about 50 million years ago, is still building the tallest mountains in the world and has produced many large, catastrophic earthquakes along the way.

Today's Quake in Myanmar is a Reminder of How Active the Sagaing Fault is

Very early in the morning on Friday, 12 January 2018, Myanmar was struck by a magnitude-6.0 earthquake. Residents in the two capital cities, Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, were able to feel the quake that had originated 40 kilometres west of the Sagaing Fault in Central Myanmar.

In the video below, Dr Wang Yu, a Research Fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore,...

People-Coral-Mentawai

People–Coral–Mentawai is a documentary short about the methods used by scientists at the Earth Observatory of Singapore to develop a timeline of earthquakes in the West Sumatra region.

A New Way to Measure the Benefits of Natural Solutions for Reducing Disaster Risk

Forests help us in many ways. They preserve biodiversity, combat climate change, and even protect us from floods. However, quantifying the value of these benefits has been a challenge for many years.

Testing the Potential of Wave Gliders for Ocean Exploration and Seafloor Geodesy in SE Asia

Barbot's team is developing geophysical marine robots to probe the deformation of the seafloor. The end goal is to extend geodetic measurements offshore to better understand earthquakes, tectonic processes and tsunami hazards.

Annual Report 2016 - Research
Nepal is the home to stunning landscapes and the tallest mountain range in the world. It is also the site of the largest active continental thrust fault called the Main Frontal Thrust. The collision of the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian plate, which began about 50 million years ago, is still building the tallest mountains in the world and has produced many large, catastrophic earthquakes along the way.

Where Should We Rebuild After a Disaster?

In 2004, a devastating tsunami struck coastlines around the Indian Ocean. In a study of the long-term recovery of the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, we found that reconstruction aid provided mostly near the coast, combined with many people's preferences to move to safer areas instead, has had the unintended consequence whereby the poor have become disproportionately exposed to coastal hazards.

Post-Disaster Damage Assessments: Room for Improvement?

On 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, destroying buildings and infrastructure across 31 of Nepal’s 70 districts. Approximately 9,000 people lost their lives to the earthquake that day, 22,000 suffered from injuries, and eight million were affected. I arrived in Kathmandu one week after the quake to support the government of Nepal in various response and recovery activities.