英语翻译Vasily V.Titov,director of the National Oceanic and Atmo

英语翻译
Vasily V.Titov,director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Center for Tsunami Research,said that coastal areas closest to the center of the earthquake probably had about 15 to 30 minutes before the first wave of the tsunami struck.“It’s not very much time,” he said.“In Japan,the public is among the best educated in the world about earthquakes and tsunamis.But it’s still not enough time.”
The quake occurred in what is called a subduction zone,where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates is sliding beneath another.In this case,the Pacific plate is sliding beneath the North American plate at a rate of about three inches a year.The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 15 miles,which while relatively shallow by global standards is about normal for quakes in this zone,said Emily So,an engineer with the United States Geological Survey in Golden,Colo.
Hidden inside the skeletons of high-rise towers,extra steel bracing,giant rubber pads and embedded hydraulic shock absorbers make modern Japanese buildings among the sturdiest in the world during a major earthquake.And all along the Japanese coast,tsunami warning signs,towering seawalls and well-marked escape routes offer some protection from walls of water.
Japan has gone much further than the United States in outfitting(equip) new buildings with advanced devices called base isolation pads and energy dissipation units to dampen the ground’s shaking during an earthquake.
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Vasily V.Titov,日本国家海洋气象管理中心海啸研究所的所长,说在第一波海啸到来之前,距离地震中心最近的沿海居民大概有15-30分钟的时间撤离.“时间不是很多”,他说,“日本民众是世界上接受地震海啸教育最好的人群,但是时间还是不够.”
这次地震发生在所谓的“俯冲带”,那儿的一块地球构造板块滑行至另一个块下面.相同地,太平洋板块正在以每年约3英寸的速度滑行至北美板块.美国国家地质勘测研究员 Emily So 说,这次地震中心距离地面约15英里,根据国际标准发生在地震常见于这个地带,同时是相对浅源的.
隐藏于高楼大厦框架中的特别加固的钢结构和巨大的橡胶垫以及内置的水力减震器使日本的大楼在大地震中是世界上最坚固的建筑.同时,绵延日本整条海岸线,海啸警报信号、伟岸的海堤和标志清楚的逃生路线也为民众提供了不少帮助.
日本在新建建筑中配备了先进的设施,如地基隔离垫和能量消耗单元来减弱地震造成的地面的摇动,这远比美国超前.