[{"command":"settings","settings":{"ajaxPageState":{"theme":"hm_theme","theme_token":"x1sQxiCoB-sJs9Yz52c_bzj3LycXHQekAaIVdtjE8XU","libraries":"eJwDAAAAAAE"},"ajaxTrustedUrl":{"form_action_p_pvdeGsVG5zNF_XLGPTvYSKCf43t8qZYSwcfZl2uzM":true},"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"2af85631393b514cbde3779a1f71d92618d53b94b54ea1960d28b2e2d121ff12"}},"merge":true},{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/5801\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EBoreholes to protect against earthquakes\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from the ANAMORPHISM project have developed a way to place boreholes at carefully spaced intervals in front of an area they want to protect and create a barrier which can deflect the shockwave from an earthquake.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey\u2019ve proved the technique works in tests near Grenoble, France. A construction firm, Menard, drilled three rows of 10 holes, each five metres deep, in the ground based on designs supplied by ANAMORPHISM. The scientists then tested the installation by generating a small 50 hertz surface earthquake wave, and the boreholes deflected the wave backwards.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf it can be scaled up, the technique could save hundreds of thousands of lives by protecting heavily populated areas against earthquakes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Imagine a city of the future,\u2019 said Dr S\u00e9bastien Guenneau, coordinator of the European Research Council-funded project. \u2018You might be able to bore holes by the city to protect it from seismic surface waves.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Guenneau\u2019s wife was born in Sri Lanka, which was heavily affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the deadliest natural disasters recorded in history, and he first developed the idea as a way to protect costal towns against tsunamis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I started to think, why not look into the possibility of building a mechanism which would make fishing villages invisible to incoming tsunami waves by diverting them around the villages rather than through them,\u2019 Dr Guenneau said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018We\u2019re really applying the same tools, or tricks, that can be done for light waves.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr S\u00e9bastien Guenneau, Institut Fresnel, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\nThe ANAMORPHISM team has carried out small-scale tests on tsunami waves in a 17-metre-long pond, and the technique works. The tests resemble the seismic wave experiment, except that in place of boreholes, a series of pillars are built on the waterbed. Like the boreholes, the pillars deflect the waves that approach them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInvisibility cloak\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Guenneau\u0026nbsp;got his inspiration from the idea of invisibility cloaks, first developed by British theoretical physicist Professor John Pendry in 2006. An invisibility cloak deflects light waves around a hidden object, while Dr Guenneau\u2019s technology is instead deflecting the shockwaves from earthquakes and tsunamis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We\u2019re really applying the same tools, or tricks, that can be done for light waves,\u2019 Dr Guenneau, said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy the end of the project in 2016, Dr Guenneau, who is based at the Institut Fresnel at France\u2019s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, hopes to have refined the prototypes for deflecting tsunami and seismic waves, and to have made a proposal as to how they could be used in practice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003EFive of the deadliest earthquakes in Europe\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EEarthquakes happen as the world\u2019s continental plates rub against each other. While the world\u2019s most seismically active regions lie along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, such as California and Japan, Europe has had its own fair share of earthquakes. These happen more frequently in the Mediterranean as it is where the Eurasian and African continental plates join. Here are some of the worst:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E- Italy - 28 December 1908 - Over 100 000 people died in the Sicilian port of Messina and in Reggio di Calabria, across the Strait of Messina.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E- Greece \u2013 December 856 - The city of Corinth was almost completely destroyed, killing an estimated 45 000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E- Portugal - 1 November 1755 - Lisbon was practically wiped out, killing tens of thousands of people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E- Greece - 3 May 1481 - An earthquake in Rhodes triggered a tsunami and left an estimated 30 000 people dead.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E- Italy - 13 January 1915 - A quake in the central Abruzzi region killed approximately 30\u0026nbsp;000 people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.preventionweb.net\/files\/3825_earthquakehazardN3.jpg\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMap of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan\u003Eseismically active regions of Europe\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-vvfr6vrfciaie-ele98mybmauyedumnzcoutjnbej3a\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-VVFr6vRFCiAie_ele98mYbmAuyeDumnzcoUtJNBeJ3A\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]