When news hit about the catastrophic floods in Chile last month, I was immediately brought back to my field seasons in the Atacama studying earthquakes. Add the potential threat of floods and landslides, and the region feels like an academic playground for studying natural hazards. I was pulled back in to the personal connections that I had formed while in Chile studying earthquakes, and reminded of the importance of keeping a place for the human component in studying natural hazards. In a mix of weak English and even weaker Spanish, we discussed that I was a graduate student, that I was a geologist, and that I was studying earthquakes. Understanding the forces behind various natural hazards can be complicated enough, even without taking the human factor into account.

Source: The Guardian March 21, 2026 23:14 UTC