St. John's centrifuge modelling facility

今年1月，太子港发生7.0级地震；2010年4月，深水地平线钻井平台发生爆炸，引发环境灾难；今年亚洲季风季节，发生了毁灭性的洪水和山体滑坡。这些事件都极大地证明了土木工程基础设施受到地质灾害影响时所产生的巨大的社会和环境影响。然而，我们防范这些事件的能力受到我们基础科学知识的限制。虽然已经学到了很多，但仍有许多未解决的问题影响着加拿大和其他地区的城乡社区。

The past year will be long remembered for the Magnitude 7.0 Port-au-Prince earthquake in January, the environmental catastrophe following the April 2010 explosion aboard the oil exploration rig Deepwater Horizon, and the devastating flooding and landslides accompanying this year's monsoon season in Asia. Each of these events dramatically testifies to the enormous social and environmental implications that result when Civil Engineering infrastructure is impacted by geohazards. However, our ability to protect against these events is limited by our knowledge of the underlying fundamental science. While much has been learned, there are many unresolved issues affecting urban and rural communities in Canada and beyond.