Possible Clues:

• Seismologist more productive when capturing start of tremor?
• Name of earthshaking importance?
• Scale of disaster getting more costly over time
• Scale of a natural disaster making prosperous period short
• Physicist who'd be better off disregarding temperature
• ___ scale (earthquake measurer)
• Charles Francis --, US seismologist
• Productive period shortened for scientist associated with shake-ups
• Man whose name is associated with shaking?
• Scale of disaster? Better off over time