Natural disasters: Am I at risk?

One of the ways we can find original angles for a news event is to think about what we ourselves would like to know about the event. When natural disasters strike, for example, everyone's first thoughts, of course, go toward the victims. What is the scale of the catastrophe and how can we help? As we read more and more about the devastation and see photos and video of the aftermath, no matter what the cause, we start to wonder if it could happen here? Am I at risk? That's only natural.

In the case of the devastating Japanese earthquake in March of 2011, there were actually two interconnected disasters, three if you count the resulting nuclear power plant radiation leaks. The earthquake itself triggered a massive tsunami that washed entire villages out to sea with just a few minutes warning.

The east coast of the United States has been spared from disasters like these although it does face hurricane risks each year. Have we just been lucky, or is the east coast relatively immune from these kinds of cataclysmic events? I spoke an expert in plate tectonics and geological science to find out.

Dr. James Tull, a professor of geological sciences at Florida State University, explains the risk and history of major earthquakes in areas of the United States away from the well-know west coast fault lines: Q&A: Earthquake risk in the eastern United States.

Dr. Tull also discusses the risk of major tsunami damage in the United States, including the west coast:
Could a catastrophic tsunami hit the United States?

An eyewitness to Japan's big earthquake

One of the houses washed out to sea by the tsunami that followed the

March 11, 2011 earthquake off the coast of Japan

Public domain photo by Airman 1st Class Katrina R. Menchaca

Right after the big 8.9 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Japan on March 11, 2011, I was contacted by the news department at the Yahoo! Contributor Network. They told me that they had contact information for someone living in Japan at the time of the earthquake and that he might be amenable to an interview. I was immediately interested for the obvious reason, but also because my son has a keen interest in Japanese history and culture and plans to spend some time studying there while in college.

I can't imagine how worried and upset his mother and I would have been if he were there already when the earthquake struck. So I wanted to explore the ability to communicate back to the United States in the immediate aftermath, personal safety issues, official warning systems, and a number of issues that may directly impact my own son and any others studying abroad in Japan either currently or in the future.

Using the information provided by Y!CN, I contacted the subject through email and set-up the interview.

You can read the full interview at this link.

Ordinarily, I locate and arrange interview prospects on my own and pitch it to the Y!CN news department through my regular Q&A interview beat. In this case, however, it was my good relationship and reputation with the news department's editorial staff that dropped the contact in my lap. Communication, networking and a good track record result in opportunities that would be otherwise unavailable. Cultivate contacts and let people know what kinds of things would be of interest to you from a writing perspective.