Disasters and accidents


RAPID REACTION: Airbus A380 wing cracks - experts respond

Thu Feb 9, 2012

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued an Airworthiness Directive which requires all A380s in service to be inspected for the presence of wing cracks. Below experts from Australia and the UK comment.

RAPID REACTION: Cleaning up the Rena oil spill in New Zealand – experts respond

Mon Oct 10, 2011

Below are comments obtained by our colleagues at the New Zealand Science Media Centre on the clean up of the Rena oil spill in New Zealand.

RAPID REACTION AND RESOURCES: NASA’s UARS satellite - re-entry on 24 Sept- experts respond

Fri Sep 23, 2011

NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) returned to Earth on Saturday, (24 September) Australian time.   According to NASA, the satellite fell back to Earth between 1:23pm AEST and 3:09pm AEST. The precise re-entry time is still not known but NASA believes the satellite penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

ROUND-UP: Italian seismologists on trial for manslaughter - experts respond

Wed Sep 21, 2011

Six leading Italian scientists and one government official are currently standing trial for manslaughter for alleged negligence that led to the deaths of over 300 people when a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the city of L’Aquila in March 2009. Opening proceedings of the trial finished on the morning of Wednesday 21 September, 2001 (AEST).

RAPID REACTION: London riots – experts respond

Wed Aug 10, 2011

Below an Australian researcher responds. There is also a comment we received from our colleagues at the UK Science Media Centre in London.

ONLINE BRIEFING: Learning to live with floods – new report

Thu Jul 14, 2011

Floods cost Australia more than any other type of natural disaster, averaging hundreds of millions of dollars per year. We cannot stop floods from happening but there are many things that we can do to manage our flood risk and reduce the negative impact of floods. A new report, entitled Understanding Floods: Questions and Answers, [...]

ONLINE BRIEFING: Super-structures! What it takes to survive a natural disaster

Mon Jul 4, 2011

ONLINE NEWS BRIEFING - Mon 4 July at 12.00pm AEST
Natural disasters are bad enough, but what happens when they topple our desalination plants or wipe out our power stations? The recent situation at the nuclear plant in Fukushima is just one example of what can happen. Governments, businesses and the public need to know whether [...]

ONLINE BRIEFING: Predicting natural disasters from a shaking Earth

Mon Jul 4, 2011

ONLINE NEWS BRIEFING - Mon 4 July at 10.30am AEST
There seems to have been another natural disaster almost each week as recent earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions have impacted on millions of people around the world. Scientists continually monitor the globe for seismic ripples but are we actually getting any better at predicting where, when [...]