Question: how have you reacted to the tsunami in japan recently?

David Pyle answered on 21 Mar 2011:

It has been a frightening time, and some friends of mine have been personally affected, which brings it all closer to home. The astonishing thing with the internet is that we can now see these things happen in real time: so after the quake, I kept an eye on the network of buoys across the Pacfic, as the tsunami spread past Hawaii and off to south America.

As a geologist it has also been interesting to see what has happened in order to work out how you could build structures to survive not only the earthquake, but also a large tsunami. The Japanese had good defences – but they were not designed for such a large wave; they were also very well prepared, and their recovery will be rapid.