大地震が次に起こる可能性が高い地域は?

相次ぐ地震は世界中の人々を不安にさせている。ハフポストUS版のインタビューでオレゴン州立大学の教授、クリス・ゴールドフィンガー博士は、今後強い地震が起こる可能性が高い場所を次のように説明した。
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4月25日にネパールで発生した大地震による死者数は、7000人を超えたと報道されている

相次ぐ地震は世界中の人々を不安にさせている。Newsweek誌でもネパール大地震のあと、今後さらに大規模な自然災害が起こりうるだろうと警告する地質学者たちの見解が紹介されている。

ハフポストUS版のインタビューでは、オレゴン州立大学の海洋地質学および地球物理学の教授クリス・ゴールドフィンガー博士が、今後強い地震が起こる可能性が高い場所を次のように説明した。

「ひとつのプレートがもうひとつのプレートの下に沈み込む『沈み込み帯』の上にある大都市、例えばインドネシアのジャカルタなどが危険だといえます。また、アメリカ大陸北西部の太平洋岸にも沈み込み帯があるため、ワシントン州のシアトルや、オレゴン州ポートランド、そしてカリフォルニア州サンフランシスコも危険な地域です」

またゴールドフィンガー博士は、中東にもいくつか注意しなければいけない都市があると指摘する。

「建築基準が厳しくないため、大きな被害が起こると予想される都市があります。たとえば、トルコのイスタンブールです。イスタンブールのすぐ沖合には、カリフォルニア州のサンアンドレアス断層と同じくらい危険な横ずれ断層があります。また、イランのテヘランにも同様の断層があります。中東にはこの2都市以外にも、自然災害が起こるリスクが比較的に高いのに、建築基準が低いため危険が予想される都市がまだたくさんあります」

この記事はハフポストUS版に掲載されたものを翻訳しました。

[日本語版:丸山佳伸、合原弘子/ガリレオ]

過去50年の大地震と津波
March 2011(01 of15)
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A magnitude 8.9 quake strikes off the northeast coast of Japan, sending a tsunami across the Pacific and killing a still-undetermined number of people.
\r\nCaption: Vehicles are crushed by a collapsed wall at a carpark in Mito city, in Ibaraki prefecture on March 11, 2011, after a massive earthquake rocked Japan. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:Getty )
October 2011(02 of15)
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A 7.1 magnitud earthquake strikes eastern Turkey near the city of Van. More than 604 people are kiled, more than 4,100 injured.
\r\n\r\nCaption: Turkish rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Van, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Bertan Ayduk)\r\n\r\n
(credit:AP)
October 2010(03 of15)
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A volcanic eruption and a tsunami kill more than 500 people in Indonesia.
\nCaption: Misbah, sits with her two year old daughter Sylvia in her collapsed house at Tumalei village in the Metawai islands, West Sumatra, on October 31, 2010. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
February 2010(04 of15)
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A 8.8 magnitude quake shakes Chile, generating a tsunami and killing 524 people.
\r\nCaption: A man removes earthquake debris from his home near a ship sitting in the middle of the road in Talcahuano, Chile, on Sunday, March 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
(credit:AP)
September 2009(05 of15)
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A magnitude 8.0 earthquake unleashes tsunamis of up to 40 feet (12 meters) and killing 194 people in the South Pacific, including 34 in American Samoa.
\r\nCaption: This photo taken on September 29, 2009, after an 8.0-magnitude quake and tsunami struck in the early morning offshore shows a damaged building and truck in Pago Pago, on American Samoa. (JOHN NEWTON/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:JOHN NEWTON/AFP/Getty Images)
September 2007(06 of15)
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A 7.8 magnitude earthquake rattles Sumatra Island, triggering regional tsunami alerts and damaging scores of buildings.
\r\nCaption: Vehicles pass a damaged road littered with cracks in Ketahun, on 16 September, 2007, four days after the first massive temblor rocked the region. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)
September 2007(07 of15)
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An earthquake measured at a magnitude of 8.4 near Sumatra triggers a wave in the coastal city of Padang. The tremor kills at least 25 people and injures around 50.
\r\nCaption: A man rides his bicycle past a collapsed house in Lubuk Pinang, Muko Muko, on 16 September, 2007. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)
April 2007(08 of15)
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At least 28 people in the Solomon Islands die in a tsunami and earthquake measured at a magnitude of 8.1.
\r\nCaption: Children walk through their destroyed homes as aid starts arriving in Gizo after it was hit by a tsunami earlier in the week, on 07 April, 2007. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)
July 2006(09 of15)
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A magnitude 6.1 earthquake triggers a tsunami off Java Island\'s southern coast, killing at least 600 people.
\r\nCaption: A hotel owner sits next to rubbles in Pangandaran, 19 July, 2006, after a earthquake-triggered tsunami hit south coast of Java island, on 17 July. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
March 2005(10 of15)
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A magnitude 8.6 quake in northern Sumatra kills about 1,300 people.
\r\nCaption: People mourn the loss of members of their family on March 31, 2005, in Gunungsitoli on the Island of Nias, Indonesia, after a massive earthquake struck on March 28. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)
(credit:Ian Waldie/Getty Images)
December 2004(11 of15)
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An Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, kills 230,000 in a dozen countries.
\r\nCaption: Hands stretch out for bags food as it is given out at a refugee camp for people who have become homeless after a massive tsunami wave swept across coastal Sri Lanka on December 31, 2004, in Tangalle, Sri Lanka. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
(credit:Getty )
December 2003(12 of15)
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A 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Iranian city of Ban in the southeastern Kerman province, killing more than 26,271 people and injuring 30,000.
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An elderly Iranian woman gestures in front of the ruins of the quake-devastated Iranian city of Bam. (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)
(credit:MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)
August 1976(13 of15)
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A magnitude 8.0 earthquake hits near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu in the Philippines, generating a tsunami and leaving at least 5,000 dead.
\r\nCaption: Aerial views of damaged buildings in Cotobato City, Philippines, in August 1976. (AP Photo)
(credit:AP Photo)
May 1960(14 of15)
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A magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile and ensuing tsunami kill at least 1,716 people.
\r\nCaption: A soldier stands guard nearrubble strewn around an electrical shop which was shattered by an earthquake in Concepcion, Chile, on May 24, 1960. (AP Photo)
(credit:AP Photo)
March 1964(15 of15)
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A 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and the resulting tsunami kill 131 people.
\r\nCaption: A photographer looks over wreckage as smoke rises in the background from burning oil storage tanks at Valdez, Alaska, on March 29, 1964. (AP Photo)
(credit:AP Photo)

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