Regardless of disputes over language, Uber has undoubtedly set the pace for an economic period defined in part by the rapid expanse of digital platforms that have quickly become substantial market players. The company’s meteoric rise has made its name ubiquitous as the front-runner of the emergent “gig economy” or “sharing economy” – terms which have found widespread colloquial uptake but fall short in academic circles for their lack of clear meanings or conceptual boundaries. The name Uber is now globally recognised, with operations in 69 countries as of 2019 – the same year it secured its place as a publicly traded entity with a flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. George Maier looks at Uber’s strategy and asks whether this could be the first domino in a downfall of unprofitable digital-platform companies.įor the past 12 years, Uber has attempted to “disrupt” the taxi industry by focusing on a streamlined app-based customer experience and the idea that anybody with a driver’s licence, car and some spare time can earn some extra cash from giving strangers a lift. Similar systems are proposed to protect coastal areas worldwide.Once the poster child of digital disruption, Uber sees its business strategy now beginning to fall apart.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning System, a coalition of 26 nations headquartered in Hawaii, maintains a web of seismic equipment and water level gauges to identify tsunamis at sea. The best defense against any tsunami is early warning that allows people to seek higher ground. Some tsunamis do not appear on shore as massive breaking waves but instead resemble a quickly surging tide that inundates coastal areas. People experiencing a tsunami should remember that the danger may not have passed with the first wave and should await official word that it is safe to return to vulnerable locations.
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Recognizing this phenomenon can save lives.Ī tsunami is usually composed of a series of waves, called a wave train, so its destructive force may be compounded as successive waves reach shore. This retreating of sea water is an important warning sign of a tsunami, because the wave’s crest and its enormous volume of water typically hit shore five minutes or so later. When it does, it produces a vacuum effect that sucks coastal water seaward and exposes harbor and sea floors. What Happens When It Hits LandĪ tsunami’s trough, the low point beneath the wave’s crest, often reaches shore first. The tops of the waves move faster than their bottoms do, which causes them to rise precipitously. But as they approach shoreline and enter shallower water they slow down and begin to grow in energy and height. In deep ocean, tsunami waves may appear only a foot or so high. And their long wavelengths mean they lose very little energy along the way. At that pace, they can cross the entire expanse of the Pacific Ocean in less than a day. Tsunamis race across the sea at up to 500 miles (805 kilometers) an hour-about as fast as a jet airplane. They may even be launched, as they frequently were in Earth’s ancient past, by the impact of a large meteorite plunging into an ocean. Tsunamis may also be caused by underwater landslides or volcanic eruptions. Most tsunamis–about 80 percent–happen within the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a geologically active area where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common. When the ocean floor at a plate boundary rises or falls suddenly, it displaces the water above it and launches the rolling waves that will become a tsunami. These awe-inspiring waves are typically caused by large, undersea earthquakes at tectonic plate boundaries. These walls of water can cause widespread destruction when they crash ashore. A tsunami is a series of ocean waves that sends surges of water, sometimes reaching heights of over 100 feet (30.5 meters), onto land.
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