Earthquake

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Geomorphic hazard: Earthquakes
Earthquakes are natural disasters that are also referred to as a ‘quake’ or ‘tremor’. It is classified as a geomorphic hazard, which are elements of the physical environment that can cause damage, (economically and environmentally) such as Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Landslides etc. Earthquakes have been around for thousands of years but no one had properly understood the concept. Not one person, but a crowd of geologists and scientists had discussed this hazard and identified what it actually. There have been some weird beliefs about earthquakes such as earthquakes were caused by air rushing out from caverns underground.
Css Forum.com.pk, 2014
An earthquake is the sudden shaking and vibration of the ground felt on the Earth’s surface, caused by the underground movement of tectonic plates. Basically, an earthquake occurs when there is a sudden release of energy under the earths crust, that is caused when tectonic plates become unstuck, break or push together. Earthquakes cannot be predicted, but nature does send us some warning signs such as foreshocks. A foreshock is a small earthquake that occurs beforehand the greater one, by a few days or weeks and occurs near or at the main site of the greater earthquake. Earthquakes also have aftershocks which are small earthquakes that follow the greater one, hence the name ‘aftershock’.

Earthquakes have a lot of effects on the environment and society such as people dying as a result of buildings collapsing because of the powerful seismic waves. In fact, in southern Italy 1909, more than half of the residents died from collapsin...

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- NESTA (2014). Can we predict earthquakes?. accessed on the 26th of March 2014 from http://www.planet-science.com/categories/over-11s/natural-world/2011/03/can-we-predict-earthquakes.aspx
- Victorian Government (2014). Earthquake facts. accessed on the 26th of March 2014 from http://www.ses.vic.gov.au/prepare/prepare-resources/earthquake-facts
- National Geographic (2014). Ring of Fire. accessed on the 27th of March 2014 from http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/ring-fire/?ar_a=1
- Geology.com (2014). World's Largest Recorded Earthquake. accessed on the 27th of March 2014 from http://geology.com/records/largest-earthquake/
- Earthquakefacts.net. (2014). Earthquake Facts. accessed on the 28th of March 2014 from http://www.earthquakefacts.net/Interesting-Earthquake-Facts.html

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