The May 12 Sichuan earthquake in China was unexpectedly large. Analysis of the area, however, now shows that topographic characteristics of the highly mountainous area identified the mountain range as active and could have pointed to the earthquake hazard. Topographic analysis can help evaluate other, similar fault areas for seismic risk, according to geologists from Penn State and Arizona State University.

1. Compendium of Environmental Sustainability Indicator Collections: 2004 Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI)

2. Compendium of Environmental Sustainability Indicator Collections: Complete Collection, Version 1.1

3. Chinese Seismic Exploration Data; WDC Geophysics/Beijing

4. GGP - Corrected Minute Data

5. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Compilation of Geophysical, Geologic, and Tectonic Data for the Circum-North Pacific

6. World Maps from the U.S. Geological Survey

7. Global Crustal Database

8. Open Seismic Hazard Analysis

9. Asian Pacific Natural Hazards Information Network

10. Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas