Haite earthquake rescue operation.

Most people know that the Island of Hispaniola (which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic) is not the only earthquake hot spots in the world.  But where are the other major tectonic plates in the world?  Which ones are seismologists most worried about?

Dr. Arthur Lerner-Lam (Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute — @earthinstitute, seismologist and author of Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis) joins CBS’ Early Show to explain the five major earthquake hot spots in the world and what scientists are doing to both predict and prepare for these catastrophic events.

Dr. Lerner-Lam does a good job of explaining the earthquake hot spots but as far as the methods scientists are using to predict them, are they really working?  Why didn’t it work in Haiti?  To be fair, these systems that scientists would like to adopt are in the early research stages and far from perfected science.  So until a system of prediction is perfected and implemented around the world, we are doomed to the element of surprise with four more “big ones” waiting to happen (most notably of concern to scientists are Asia and the United States where we are all very well aware that a “big one” is predicted to erupt in California at any time).

Global Tectonic Plates