The Blinne Blog

Repeat Indonesian Earthquake Likely

The following disturbing Brief Communication is found in tomorrow's Nature:

Last year's Indonesian earthquake has increased seismic hazard in the region. Following the massive loss of life caused by the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake in Indonesia and its tsunami, the possibility of a triggered earthquake on the contiguous Sunda trench subduction zone is a real concern. We have calculated the distributions of co-seismic stress on this zone, as well as on the neighbouring, vertical strike–slip Sumatra fault, and find an increase in stress on both structures that significantly boosts the already considerable earthquake hazard posed by them. In particular, the increased potential for a large subduction-zone event in this region, with the concomitant risk of another tsunami, makes the need for a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean all the more urgent.

The communication concludes that an earthquake in the range of 7.0-7.5 on the Northern Sumatra fault is an immediate threat. This is enough for a repeat tsunami. Thus, the call for a tsunami warning system in the letter.

Update: NPR has an interview with the paper's author.

Update: A follow-up quake actually happened:

GUNUNGSITOLI, Indonesia (Reuters) - More than 1,000 people were feared killed in a massive earthquake which hit a remote Indonesian island famed as a surfing paradise, reducing large parts of its main town to rubble.

The Indian Ocean epicenter of Monday night's 8.7 magnitude quake was just about 100 miles southeast of the upheaval three months ago which triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing across Asia.

Living in Colorado Good for Your Heart

Living in Colorado has always been good for our hearts. The impressive vistas helps us to put life in perspective. Now, we find out that this is literally true. The BBC reports a study that shows that living at a high altitude helps promote heart health.

People who live in mountainous areas have better heart health than lowland dwellers, researchers have suggested. The University of Athens Medical School team monitored 1,150 Greek people for 15 years. The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found fewer deaths in total, and particularly from heart disease, among those in the highlands.

Both/And Evangelism

Evangelicals are trying to broaden their influence beyond the normal politically conservative venues. The New York Times reported the following:

The National Association of Evangelicals, with 30 million members in 45,000 churches, opened a debate on Thursday on a document intended to expand the political platform of evangelicals beyond the fight against abortion and same-sex marriage.

The authors of the paper, "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility," said they reached a consensus between liberals and conservatives by adopting public policy goals, but not prescribing strategies to achieve them. At a luncheon held by the association on Thursday on Capitol Hill, however, some evangelical leaders voiced concern that the new platform could dilute the focus of the evangelical movement by taking on too many issues.

The document urges evangelicals to address issues like racial injustice, religious freedom, poverty in the United States and abroad, human rights, environmentalism and advancing peace through nonviolent conflict resolution.

So, what are evangelicals trying to accomplish? A both/and approach to evangelism and the Gospel. The extremes on both the left and the right have not always served evangelicals well. The following op-ed by David Waters sums up this thinking:

Will the pendulum ever stop in the middle? Some evangelicals are beginning to question the faithfulness of one-sided evangelism, left or right.

"The Moral Majority lacked a servant heart of Christ born out of humility and compassion for a fallen humanity," Robert Wenz, vice president of national ministries for the NAE, said at the conference.

"Instead, it was all about making America a nice place for Christians to live. This is not the kind of social involvement that we need or that evangelicals espouse."

Other evangelical leaders have been critical of the social gospel's lack of emphasis on personal sin and salvation.

"We need a full-blown biblical theology that affirms both personal and social sin, both personal conversion and structural change, both evangelism and social action, both personal and social salvation, both Jesus as moral example and Jesus as vicarious substitute, both orthodox theology and ethical obedience," Ron Sider, a professor of theology at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in "Good News and Good Works."

The evangelical movement first began to win a huge following in the 18th Century, led by men such as John Wesley and George Whitfield. In these politically and theologically divisive times it's worth remembering why.

It was their conservative piety and their liberal humanity.