Dr Warwick Smith is a senior seismologist at GNS Science. He holds a PhD from the University of California and MSc from the University of Auckland. From 1979 to 1995 he was Chief Seismologist at DSIR and then GNS, and in that role he was often interviewed on television and radio, frequently after large or moderate earthquakes had occurred in New Zealand. His research specialty is the assessment of earthquake risk, and with colleagues he has developed procedures for using available geological information to assess the level of risk and how it varies throughout New Zealand. For 15 years he was also a member of the United Nations working group which was concerned with the detection of underground nuclear explosions by seismological means.