(UEFS - 2010.2 - PROVA 1) TEXTO: Earthquake science A team of scientists say they can explain why many1 more people died in the earthquake in Haiti compared tothe much larger quake in Chile. The geophysicists, from the U.S. Geological Surveyand from Harvard University, said that strict building regulations in Chile had undoubtedly saved lives2. Thecountry has a long history of earthquakes and as a consequence has some of the toughest building codes3 in the world. But Doctor Walter Mooney, whos studied dozensof earthquakes around the globe, said there were also other factors behind the relatively low death toll: Firstand foremost, people4are used to earthquakes in Chile and so they did know that they have to evacuate fromdangerous structures. Secondly, this earthquake had aslow and gradual build-up.They had some 20 or 30 seconds to look at each other, realize that the ground shaking was crescendoing, and building up, and they made the right decision in almost all cases by gettingout of the dangerous structures and running out into theopen area. Thus, education, and a bit of luck is the answer to why so many people survived. Doctor Mooney contrasted that with the Haitianquake, which split open the hard rock beneath the capitalPort Au Prince within seconds. Buildings collapsedinstantly, giving people no time to escape. Despite the relatively low loss of life in Chile, Dr Mooney said the country must learn from this disaster,particularly with regards to building along the coast. Many of those5 who died were killed not by the quake, but by the tsunamis that followed it, which swept away coastal villages. And the geophysicists said that even if Chile tookprecautions, it would remain highly vulnerable toearthquakes. They said that the north of the country wasa particular worry. It hasnt suffered a big quake for arounda hundred years and is probably due for one soon, they said. LONG, Gideon. Earthquake science. Disponvel em: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2010/03/100405_witn_earthquake_science.shtml. Acesso em: 6 jun. 2010. The only alternative in which the word has totally regular plural form is
