The greatest risk of dying during an earthquake comes from collapsing structures and flying debris. Thanks to Japan's stringent seismic building codes, during the 2011 magnitude-9.0 Tohoku , fewer than 600 people were crushed by falling rubble, according to Japan's National Police Agency. More than 90 percent of the country's deaths were from drowning during the ensuing tsunami.

But in China, where seismic building codes are often flouted, the magnitude-8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 killed more than 69,000 people. In 2010, an even smaller quake, a magnitude-7.0, killed more than 220,000 people in Haiti. []

Japan spends five times more money on reducing itsthan the United States, said Ross Stein, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's office in Menlo Park, Calif. Stein is the co-founder of an international nonprofit called the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). GEM's aim is to freely provide the same sophisticated earthquake risk-assessment tools used by Japan to poorer countries.

Earthquake forecasting for all

GEM can't predict when or where an earthquake will hit. Instead, the GEM community would create a series of databases and open source software so that anyone could identify areas at risk from future earthquakes and shaking damage. If GEM succeeds, for the first time, the world will have a pooled earthquake resource accessible to all.

GEM's massive ambitions include a database of the fragility of every building on Earth, a globalfor the past 1,000 years, and a map of every known active fault. Add those up and out pops a rough estimate of dangerous areas to live.

The unified databases could help scientists answer big questions about how earthquakes behave, Stein and his colleagues believe. For example, the risk of large quakes in both Tokyo and Santiago de Chile may have increased by a factor of two since , respectively, according to a Perspective published today (Aug. 22) in the journal Science by Stein and co-author Shinji Toda. But because different countries track earthquakes with different approaches, comparing quake data sets has been a Sisyphean affair.

"The global data set is perhaps the biggest gift we can give the community," Stein told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet. "In my field of science, data trumps everything."

Teach the world about risk

"Free" and "" make GEM stand out in the field of earthquake risk, which is often proprietary to academics and insurance companies. However, even thoughthe software, called OpenQuake, costs nothing for users, a major hurdle for GEM is figuring out how to pay for training the legions of scientists and engineers who plan to use OpenQuake.

"In countries such as Haiti, local scientists have the expertise but lack the funding for training," said Louise Comfort, a public policy expert at the University of Pittsburgh and a member of GEM's advisory board. "One of the major benefits of GEM is that it's an open source platform, but international assistance agencies like USAid will often contribute money for equipment but not for training." []

The focus on equipment over training has left an unsavory legacy in developing countries. Western earthquake experts have a long history of persuading countries to buy expensive, proprietary software and equipment, then leaving with little to no follow-up.

"I've been in this field for 25 years, and I'm sorry to say I've seen this happen far too many times," said Comfort, who analyzes the effects of earthquake disasters on countries. "I have seen local experts left with a set of software they don't know how to operate and it sits on closet shelves," she said.

Stein said GEM is struggling with finding the funding for training. "It's a sophisticated piece of software, it's 20,000 lines of code, and not yet particularly user-friendly, either," Stein said. OpenQuake doesn't even have a graphical user interface (GUI) yet (the little icons people click on to launch software). But as an open source project, all tinkerers and hackers are welcome, and OpenQuake is already getting input and advice from coders around the world, Stein said.

Big data, big goals

Launched in 2009, GEM is a public-private partnership headquartered in Pavia, Italy. Though Stein's government job prevents him from fundraising for projects outside the U.S. Geological Survey, Stein globetrots for GEM, weaving together the international partnerships needed for its success.

The group has already met several of its milestones, such as unveiling the earthquake catalog earlier this year. GEM plans to launch OpenQuake in November 2014. []

GEM's goals include calculating both global seismic hazard, which isin a given period, and seismic risk, the deaths and economic impact. The group hopes the information will help countries decide how to invest in preventing earthquake losses.

One early GEM success was in Ecuador, Stein said. Ecuador created the country's first seismic hazard model with the help of GEM and GeoHazards International, a nonprofit based in Menlo Park. As a result, Ecuador enacted its firstin 2011. But Ecuador had to withdraw from GEM, because it couldn't afford the $20,000 membership fee. (Countries and companies pay on a sliding scale.)

In future years, GEM databases will incorporate social vulnerability, or the ability to withstand the losses from an earthquake. An example of social vulnerability is the political instability in Ecuador after a 1987 earthquake shut down the country's oil pipeline, the source of half its national income. "The political system was really shaken," Comfort said.

Perils of earthquake forecasting

But critics say that even GEM's big picture view won't overcome the current problems with . Anticipating the location and size of future earthquakes is still an inexact science. Despite Japan's deep investment in understanding its earthquake hazard, the location and enormous size of its great 2011 earthquake took the country by surprise. And few other countries can match Japan's long written and geologic history of earthquakes, or good monitoring network for current temblors. []

"Some parts of the world do not have a good history of earthquakes, and it's very important to have a good history of historical earthquakes for work on future seismic hazards," said Roger Bilham, a seismologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Stein said GEM modelers recognize the flaws in their historic earthquake catalog, but he thinks a good way to overcome any lack of historical records is to look at the problem globally.

Bilham is also concerned that the beneficiaries of GEM will be the financial backers, such as governments and insurance companies.

"There is a disconnect between the products of GEM and those that will die in the developing nations in the next many decades," Bilham said. And even if developing countries improve their building codes based on better understanding of future earthquake risk, Bilham points out that corruption or lack of funds means those building codes may be ignored.

Looking ahead

It won't be long before an , experts predict. Megacities are sprawling along major fault lines around the world, often with no thought to earthquake-safe construction. But the deaths can be prevented. In the United States, Chile and Japan, building codes let earthquakes up to magnitude-7 roll through with relatively little damage. Mexico and Japan have earthquake early warning systems.

"The earthquakes aren't going to go away, but it is possible to build metropolitan regions that are far more resilient to earthquakes," Comfort said. "I think GEM is contributing to a global recognition of risk, and one of the things I think is really true is that we've got to recognize the risk to which we're exposed before we change the way we build our cities."

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"We consider the possession of nuclear arms doesn't conform with the interests of the country and threatens the security of Iran," Zarif said, adding however that Iranians "will not give up their rights."

"But we will show the world that there is no threat from Iran. The only threat... is from the Zionist regime," he said, quoted by the Fars news agency, in reference to Israel.

Along with Western governments, Israel -- which has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal -- suspects Iran is using its nuclear programme as cover to develop a weapons capability. Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes only.

The United States and European Union have slapped the Islamic republic with a raft of economic sanctions in a bid to halt its nuclear drive, and Zarif called for these to be lifted through "rational negotiations".

On August 6, newly elected President Hassan Rowhani said Iran was ready for "serious" talks on its nuclear programme without delay and that US calls for tougher sanctions showed a lack of understanding.

"I think Western leaders have not understood the message of the presidential election. They think the government will waive the rights of the Iranian" nuclear programme, said Zarif.

"The United States and European countries must understand that the Iranian people will not give up their rights and no government can afford to do it.

"But, at the same time, we want to show the world that there is no threat from Iran," he added.

In the still waters near a pier in Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, a prototypewas successfully brought on board a navy ship for the first time.

It was nice to see how the ballet of it all performed, said Lou Garcia, NASA recovery director, in a statement. []

Navy divers put tow lines on the test capsule and brought Orion to an open space (known as a well deck) below the main deck of the U.S.S. Arlington. Once the spacecraft was safely inside, water inside the well deck was drained until Orion was flat on the surface.

It's been nearly 40 years since the last Apollo spacecraft one that formed splashed down in the Pacific in 1975. After a generation of landing space shuttles on land, NASA chose to shift back to water-based landings for Orion as it eyes missions beyond Earth orbit.

First Orion test flight in September 2014

This particular test took two years to accomplish as NASA and the Navy worked together on the recovery procedures. The landings will be out in the choppy ocean, but they chose as a first step to do a test within a controlled environment the waters next to a pier.

"This allows us to practice our procedures in a benign environment with no ship movement and minimum wave action," Jim Hamblin, a landing and recovery element operations manager with NASA's ground systems development and operations program, said in a statement.

The next step is to do the procedures on the open water, which will happen around January 2014. Orion's first test flight, known as , is scheduled for September 2014.

EFT-1 will bring an uncrewed spacecraft 3,600 miles (nearly 6,000 kilometers) above Earth about 15 times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station. Orion will then do a high-speed entry, traveling up to 20,000 miles an hour (32,000 kilometers an hour) before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean.

Engineers plan to gather information on Orion's flight systems, heat shield and other systems to refine the spacecraft's design before humans climb onboard later in the decade.

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The first thing that entrepreneurs need to realize is that the process and framework for making social media marketing work are different from traditional marketing, and trial and error certainly doesnt work. Ric Dragon, an expert in online marketing, in , outlined the best set of steps I have seen so far for the new world:

In fact, marketing in the social media is fundamentally different from conventional marketing. The depth in which connections can be made with the audience or customers is far greater than it possibly can be with any other medium. The very nature of influence at this level mans that values and vision must be in tune.

Of course, with social media marketing, trial and error is not the only way to fail. You can fail by not being there at all (see the ), or making the big mistake (see ).

More positively, social media also brings many more ways to succeed. See the classic examples of(customer retention),(large rewards), and(brand building). Its time for you to learn the best practices of using social media in your company, and putting them to work before your competition puts you out of work.

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Al-Qaeda-inspired fighters, breakaway regions, rival clans and an ongoing climate of rampant insecurity have conspired to ensure the Horn of Africa nation remains saddled with its basket case image.

The new government was the first to be given global recognition since the collapse of the hardline regime in 1991, and billions in foreign aid has been poured in.

But in a major blow this month, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) -- an aid agency used to working in the world's most dangerous places -- pulled out after two decades in the country.

The agency said it could no longer put up with a "barrage of attacks", including kidnappings, threats, lootings and murder.

"It came at a moment when world leaders, for the first time in decades, began making positive noises about a country on the road to recovery and with a stable government," said MSF president Unni Karunakara.

"For them, the timing of our decision could not have been worse."

Somalia has taken steps forward, particularly in the coastal capital of Mogadishu -- now busy with labourers rebuilding after Islamist Shebab fighters fled their city trenches two years ago.

But the situation elsewhere remains bleak.

"Rarely has it been so important to bear in mind the old maxim: Mogadishu is not Somalia," argues Matt Bryden, in a report for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

"The stream of returnees, investors, aid workers and diplomats to Mogadishu has not been replicated elsewhere in the country, creating an artificial, almost surreal bubble of optimism."

Mogadishu's government, selected in a UN-backed process in August 2012, was hailed as offering the best chance for peace in a generation.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking in May ahead of an international conference on Somalia in London, said then that the steps forward had "exceeded all expectations".

But the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) noted that progress has been "painstakingly slow".

"The failure of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's administration to consolidate power beyond Mogadishu and the general lawlessness in many parts of country, remain stark reminders of the huge challenges to lasting peace in Somalia," ISS added.

Outside the city, the weak central government has little influence, with much of the country fractured into autonomous regions, including the self-declared and fiercely independent northern Somaliland.

The northeast Puntland region cut ties with central government in a furious row earlier this month, while in the far south self-declared leaders of the Jubaland region defy Mogadishu's authority.

The Shebab too remain powerful, despite losing a string of key towns and leaders carrying out bloody purges of rivals.

Suicide attacks on a UN compound in June demonstrated the Shebab's ability to strike at the heart of the capital's most secure areas.

UN Monitoring Group reports last month estimated the Shebab are still some 5,000 strong, and remain the "principal threat to peace and security to Somalia".

Multiple armies fight for control of southern Somalia, including rival warlords, Islamist extremists and a rag-tag national army backed by the 17,700-strong African Union force.

Aid workers are struggling to contain a dangerous outbreak of the crippling polio virus, with the UN warning that while more than 100 cases have been recorded there are "probably thousands more with the virus".

Compounding the problem is an almost impossible environment for aid workers.

"Acceptance of violence against health workers has permeated Somali society," MSF's Karunakara said.

"This acceptance is now shared by many armed groups and many levels of civilian government, from clan elders to district commissioners to the Federal Somali Government."

Over a million Somalis are refugees in surrounding nations and another million are displaced inside the country, often in terrible conditions, with the UN warning of "pervasive" sexual violence.

Investigations were launched last week after a Somali woman alleged she was gang raped by African Union troops and Somali soldiers.

Progress in Somalia is relative, but steps forward have been taken since the 2011 famine that struck large parts of the south of the country, including in camps in the capital.

"The gains are fragile, however, and the magnitude of the crisis remains enormous," United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Philippe Lazzarini said, adding that more than 2.7 million Somalis were still dependent on aid.

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Deny any of this has to do with running for president: Check.

For politicians planning or tempted to run for the presidency in 2016, the to-do list is formidable. What's striking is how methodically most of them are plowing through it while they pretend nothing of the sort is going on.

Somehow, it has been decreed that politicians who fancy themselves presidential timber must wear a veil concealing the nakedness of their ambition. They must let the contours show through, however more and more over time while hoping everyone doesn't tire of the tease.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, among others, are hewing closely to the scripted chores of soon-to-runs. Hillary Rodham Clinton and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are among those coming out with a book, almost a perquisite these days, while otherwise diverting from the usual path of preparation, for reasons that make strategic sense for them (and, you never know, could merely reflect indecision).

There is so much to do: Polish a record, for those in office; network with central constituencies of the party; take a serious stab at social media; start dealing with pesky baggage; and get going with a shadow campaign, which can mean bringing on national advisers, powering up a political action committee, or both. The little-knowns must get better known. The well-knowns must shape how people know them.

Governors Chris Christie of New Jersey and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana say it's crazy to be preparing for a campaign this soon.

If so, then Christie, Jindal and the whole lot of them are crazy.

Paul is going full steam on prep, making all the necessary moves (visits to New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina among them), while stating his only motive is to help the Republican Party grow. This, despite hard-line tactics in the Senate that do not resemble outreach to GOP factions other than his own.

Still, he's been more upfront than most in acknowledging the possibility of a presidential campaign. Rubio, for one, claims such a campaign hasn't crossed his mind even as he's been running one, in all but name, at least since he darted into Iowa mere days after the 2012 election. Among Democrats, O'Malley now is openly talking about a 2016 race.

Everything Clinton does, short of brushing her teeth, is parsed for presidential campaign meaning. If her brand of toothpaste were known, that would be factored in the punditry, too. "I have absolutely no plans to run," she says, turning to the most time-worn dodge, which persuades no one, including the supporters and donors who raised more than $1 million in June alone without any discouragement from her.

Happily for hopefuls, much of what they do as public officials is multipurpose, giving them a veneer of deniability even if no one believes it.

Vice President Joe Biden chats up people from key primary states and Democratic interest groups, but, hey, that's just Joe the king of schmooze, right?

Christie staged a national fundraising tour this summer, swelling coffers for what's expected to be a cakewalk to a second term as governor but, more important, making the coast-to-coast money connections he'd need for a Republican presidential race. Many could-be candidates travel to raise money for others, similarly introducing themselves to donors for their own potential benefit down the road.

Rare is the presidential prospect who hasn't been to Israel, the New Hampshire of the Middle East, small in size but big as a touchstone of U.S politics, and it's easy for a senator to find reasons to go. Paul and Rubio did early this year. Governors pad thin foreign policy resumes with trade missions or other events abroad, as Wisconsin's Scott Walker did with a summer visit to China. Christie made Israel his first overseas trip as governor last year. O'Malley made a return visit in April.

Many of these people have positions in party organizations or governors associations that make a trip to New Hampshire or a splashy speech in California look like something other than an effort to grease their own wheels for 2016. That's especially handy for governors, who risk flak at home if seen preening for a national audience. That hasn't stopped Christie, though, from going for laughs on late-night talk shows or agreeing to a sitcom stint this fall on Michael J. Fox's new show.

Walker got to preen at home this summer, hosting the National Governors Association annual meeting in Milwaukee. He says he won't think about running for president until the 2014 governor's election is over. No one believes him. Notably, he won't commit to serving all four years if he wins another term.

Both Walker and Jindal are introducing themselves to South Carolina conservatives in a fundraising visit for Gov. Nikki Haley in late August.

Not all prospective candidates have to jump through all the hoops of campaign preparation, at least not this soon. After traveling more than 1 million miles as secretary of state, Clinton can sit on a couch with impunity for a while. She's coming out of a quiet spell with plans for more speeches, some highly paid to bring in personal income.

By now Biden also has been everywhere, gotten to know everyone and had something to say about everything under the sun.

That includes his own future. To GQ magazine: "I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America." That's the veil.

"But it doesn't mean I won't run." The tease.

Says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: "My thinking is not to think about it for a year."

Meantime he's appeared on all five Sunday TV talk shows on one day in March, served as keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference that month, spoken in South Carolina in April and returned in the summer for a party thrown by a leading Republican bundler of donations. This, after speaking in Iowa last year. His platforms are his 2013 book on immigration and his prominent advocacy on overhauling education.

The outlier in this group is Cuomo like father, like son.

The governor is writing a book to come out next year that is said to reflect "profound moments" of his first term and "a full and frank account" of his private life, the perfect vanity project to get his ideas before a national audience, deal with post-divorce personal baggage on his own terms and generate the buzz that others who may run already are seeking.

For now, he's staying close to home, skipping the usual networking, avoiding the national airwaves and keeping the veil decidedly opaque. When Democrats held their national convention in Charlotte, N.C., last year, Cuomo went to the city but skipped the spectacle, choosing instead a side event for New York delegates at a local hotel.

This, from the son of Hamlet on the Hudson, the label attached to Mario Cuomo when he sent mixed signals about his intentions in 1988 and 1992. "I have no plans and no plans to make plans," the elder Cuomo said over and over, finally opting both times not to go for the Democratic nomination.

Family considerations tend to be a smoke screen when raised, as they often are, by politicians deciding whether to run for office. It's a safe bet Bush will decide whether to run based on factors other than his mother Barbara's comment that "we've had enough Bushes." And no one was thrown off the scent when Christie told David Letterman his family voted 6-0 against his running in 2012.

After all, Mitt Romney had a family meeting, too, producing a 10-2 vote against a 2012 candidacy. He voted no, along with the majority, but history beckoned, as the family told it, and that straw poll was lost in the wind of his 2012 campaign.

EDITOR'S NOTE _ An occasional look behind the rhetoric of politicians

The Spaniard's comments came the day after the club's director of communications Alan Myers branded the bids for Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini and England defender Leighton Baines as "derisory and insulting".

"It's been well documented what happened with the transfer speculation, that's been dealt with and it was all a little bit of a waste of time - time I don't want the players to waste," Martinez told Everton Television.

He questioned whether the transfer window should even still be open when the season was underway, echoing the views of Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew who on Monday was angry about the timing of an approach by Arsenal for midfielder Yohan Cabaye.

"I'm not a big believer in having the window open while the games are starting," Martinez said. "I think the start of the season was important for us at Norwich (a 2-2 draw) and I won't come out now and carry on talking about the speculation.

"When there is something to tell our fans we will do that - they'll be the first ones to know if there are any players coming in or any players going out.

"But I don't believe in getting involved in the transfer window when the games are underway and we are in a very, very important moment of our season," said Martinez.

"We're trying to find our feet, we've got a good start under our belts, we've got real competition for places and we've got the visit of West Brom at the weekend."

According to media reports United, now managed by former Everton boss David Moyes, offered a total of 28 million pounds for Fellaini and Baines.

United, who began their title defence with a 4-1 win at Swansea City on Saturday, are yet to make a significant transfer-window signing with their public pursuit of Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas so far coming to nothing.

Mayweather, who was in Detroit for a news conference ahead of Saturday's junior middleweight title bout between Cornelius "K9" Bundrage and Ishe Smith, likened his Showtime agreement to a matrimonial modification.

"I got a divorce," a smiling Mayweather said of leaving HBO, his longtime television home. "I'm married again."

"I couldn't have asked for a better deal," he said.

The sport's biggest star and moneymaker announced Tuesday that he'll fight Robert Guerrero on May 4 on Showtime, a move that shook up the boxing universe.Mayweather's move is a coup for Showtime, which long has trailed HBO in boxing prominence.

Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) said his new revenue-sharing deal could include up to six pay-per-view bouts over 30 months, a much faster pace than to which he's become accustomed.

The 147-pound champion, who hasn't fought since beating Miguel Cotto on May 5, has fought just four times since December 2007.

"The fans want to see a lot more of me," Mayweather told reporters at the MGM Grand Detroit. "I will give you excitement."

Mayweather, who turns 36 on Sunday, was there to support Saturday's card at the nearby Masonic Temple Theatre as well as Smith, his friend and sparring partner from Las Vegas, who is vying for his first-ever professional title.

The news event was testy with supporters of Bundrage and Smith screaming at each other and scuffling at one point inside one of the casino-hotel's conference rooms.

Mayweather was all smiles, putting his arm around Smith and chatting amiably with Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, who called the deal one "which we're very, very proud of."

Mayweather, who grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich., said he began training for the Guerrero fight Wednesday by running in the gym of Ottawa Hills High School in his hometown.

"This is a guy I know I can't overlook," Mayweather said of Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs), the WBC's interim welterweight champion.

Manny Pacquiao had been Mayweather's only rival in recent years, though he had a pair of losses in 2012. Asked Thursday about a possible future fight with the Filipino, Mayweather pointed to the "crucial knockout" he suffered at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez in December.

"If people don't know, Floyd Mayweather's not scared of (any) opponent," Mayweather said. "You just don't wake up overnight and just become (the best) pound-for-pound (fighter). And sometimes people talk about my legacy. If my legacy was based upon just one fight, then I didn't need to fight 43 fights."

Shifting to his upcoming fight, Mayweather promised an entertaining bout with Guerrero.

"Call your local cable company, because it's Showtime, baby," he said.