In September, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the south island of New Zealand near Christchurch. Fortunately, there were no reported deaths and only about 100 reported injures. The insured losses have been estimated by some to have eclipsed $1 billion, however, making this very real seismic event a very real event for the insurance industry as well.
But it wasn’t just insurers that were affected.
As you can see below, one train track was permanently altered in what looks more like a Photoshopped image or a cartoon gag than an actual photograph. Sure enough, this actually happened — although no one is sure exactly how.
Dave Petley, blogging at the American Geophysical Union, isn’t exactly sure what caused the strange deformations, but speculates that “The compression on the very strong railway line was accommodated when a weak point was found, leading to a comparatively rapid deformation to form the main buckle on the left. This then concentrated stress on both sides of the buckle, allowing the other (right side) bends to form.”
The lesson?
Mother Nature aint nothing to mess with.
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Jared Wade is co-editor of Risk Management Monitor and senior editor of Risk Management magazine, where he has worked since 2002. You can follow him on Twitter @RiskMgmt and find more of his writing at JaredWade.com.
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Mother Nature aint nothing to mess with.
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