People tremble when they hear the word: destruction, devastation, or losses while those are only the first words that come to mind when an Earthquake occurs. Earthquakes can be terrifying; the earth that had seemed so reassuringly solid and stable suddenly lurches, disrupting people’s both physical and emotional balance. Skyscrapers sway visibly, sound buildings and bridges collapse, power lines spark, gas lines rupture, and landslides scar hillsides and alter the course of the rivers. For years throughout recorded history, earthquakes have disrupted all expectations of normalcy and have imposed an adverse impact on various places around the world, killing over “3.5 million people” on average during the past two millennia (Marshak 218). Earthquakes have impacted many areas in the United States, especially along the western coast in states like Alaska, Hawaii, and California. California is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it is located on the famous San Andreas Fault in the very seismically active Ring of Fire. Earthquake hazards are also prominent in many other regions across the United States including the Rocky Mountain region, the New Madrid Seismic Zone (a portion of the central United States), as well as portions of the eastern seaboard, specifically South Carolina. Close to “75 million people in 39 states” face considerable and recurring risks from contemporary earthquakes (Monahan 2). Owing to the destructive effects of California’s earthquakes in the past few decades and generally around the world, scientists have made an effort to locate and measure the size of an earthquake, predict a location’s vulnerability to earthquakes, and develop seismic warning systems in an attempt to reduce potential losses in... ... middle of paper ... ...ierra Nevada on west and Mojave Desert on east (Fig.X). The topography of the province is largely characterized by “abrupt changes in elevation,” causing a wide range of elevation values. These include the province’s highest point which lies east of Owens valley, at an elevation of 4,341 meters above sea level, and the lowest point in the United States located in the famous Death Valley basin, 86 meters below sea level (Harden, 130). Throughout the province, many range-front faults are found. Range-front faults are young faults that are formed along the edge of an uplifting mountain range. The fact that most of the range-front faults, found in the basin, are normal faults has led geologists to believe that the repeated vertical motion along the normal fault systems is the major cause of the characteristic basin’s topography. Some of these faults are active faults.
Problem Statement: Earthquakes are a natual part of the environment. They do,however,cause devistating effect on the environment. Since Earthquakes can not be avoided, maybe there is a way to determine when they are going to occur so precautions can be taken to get people to safety and protect as much of
With the recent earthquakes in California, many are worried about the next earthquake that could be the potential “big” one that many geologists have been predicting for many years. The Cascadia subduction zone is also known as CSZ megathrust fault. It is roughly 1000km long, a dipping fault that stretches from Northern Vancouver Islands to Cape Mendocino California. The zone passes through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and into California.
Earthquakes in California are certainly not a surprise. What is a surprise is their unpredictability and randomness. Geologists say there is roughly a 50 percent chance that a magnitude 8 or more quake will hit the Los Angeles area sometime over the next 30 years. And, over the past twenty years, the Los Angeles area has witnessed several earthquakes, and in particular, two that were quite devastating; the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, and the January 17, 1994, Northridge Earthquake. Given the certainty that earthquakes will occur, they still seem to come as a surprise, and leave many communities unprepared to deal with their aftermath.
The topics of conversation within this transcript jumped from Kiona’s vacation (seen in lines 2 to 25), to Florida and California’s water issues (seen in line 27 to 28), back to Kiona’s vacation (seen in line 29 to 32) and finished off with the San Andreas Fault/Earthquakes (seen in line 32 to 56). The initial topic of conversation was suggested by Corina (seen in line 2) in order to get the conversation started. There was no topic dropped due to embarrassment, however; there was a moment mentioned before in this analysis in which we went back to a topic. Most because at the time and based on facial expressions the participant Barbi, she wasn’t paying attention to the conversation that was happening right next to her. There also was no topic
D.J. Dowrick (”Earthquake Risk Reduction”in Wiley) explains that seismic hazard is any physical phenomenon associated with an earthquake that may produce adverse effects on human activities. Earthquakes occur very suddenly without any warning. Thus, earthquake not only destructs people’s living environment, but also affects people’s mental health. People are more scared of earthquake. In 2010, there are two severe earthquakes, which are Haiti Earthquake and Chile Earthquake. Both of these two earthquakes produced the various impact considerably across countries and regions. The purpose of this essay is to analyse those two earthquakes according to knowledge such as why they occur, how strong they are, and what the impact they made. Even though people still can not predict earthquake, through analyse earthquakes, they can prevent it bring huge losses.
The dangerousness of earthquakes are rated from one to ten. One being you aren’t able to feel it and ten being VERY powerful. There was a deadly earthquake, almost no one survived. A deadly 7.2 earthquake occurred in the Central Philippines. All signs and clues pointed to the East Bohol Fault. A 6 rated earthquake that happened before, injured 300 people and caused a tsunami. But the 7.2 earthquake didn’t cause any tsunami. All of the dangerous earthquakes damaged ports, schools and airports; even a hospital collapsed killing at least 18 people. Children were injured in stampedes at two sports complexes while others rushed to the exits. Five people were killed in a earthquake - triggered landslide. People respond to a natural disaster by gathering resources, spreading the word, and government help.
The Physical and Human Factors Which Affect the Location and the Impact of the Earthquake Hazard
The effects of the aftershocks were more emotional than physical which, given the seriousness and the consequences of the event, were natural and justified. Today, when Haiti struggles to eliminate the consequences of the quake and to restore the economic stability in the region, seismologists and scholars in geology science keep arguing about whether the Haiti earthquake could have been predicted. Whether seismologists could have predicted the Haiti earthquake is no longer important, and it is equally difficult to estimate the value and importance of the 2008 scientific report. Nevertheless, the Haiti earthquake teaches seismologists numerous lessons and once again emphasizes the need to develop sound technologies and systems, which would predict earthquakes and warn local populations about
The top single risk that is likely to adversely impact on the Hot Site organization is an earthquake, which will result from the movements of seismic waves below the region’s surface leading to surface faulting and tremors among other related cases of landslides. I selected the risk because the region, Sunnyvale, California, where Hot Site is located is prone to earthquake due to its subduction around the ocean, and having a complex belt that has stretched miles away to the American belt. Hot Site risks an earthquake, a phenomenon that may result from the regions slippage along the extensively stretching fault.
Before examining the Northridge event, understanding the naturally occurring hazard that is an earthquake will help to better understand exactly what happened and why it was such an important geological event. With four distinct layers, two layers, the crust and upper portion of the mantle, compose the skin that is the surface layer of the Earth. The crust is not a single, continuous piece. It is actually several different pieces, or plates, that come together to form the puzzle that comprises the surface of the Earth. These plates are in constant motion rubbing against one another. These areas, known as fault lines, where the plates rub up against one another have spots where one plate ”gets stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. When the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick and is how most of the earthquakes around the world occur” (Wald, 2012). The energy stored from the friction of the two plate...
With the occurrence of an earthquake in La Habra in March of 2014, earthquakes have been more and more on the minds of California residents. But what are the risks of earthquakes in California? and How are people managing them?
Many items had pulled up when searching for the plate tectonic setting of my state. They were the San Andreas Fault, the Sierra Nevada the mountain range, and the Long Valley Caldera, which is a crater. First, there is the San Andreas Fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) moves northwestward about the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the fault. These two moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is
The San Andreas Fault is a geologic fault zone between two tectonic plates that runs from San Francisco south to San Diego in California. It is an area of frequent earthquakes caused by the plates sliding past each other. It is so called because it runs along the San Andreas Valley.
Earthquakes belong to the class of most disastrous natural hazards. They result in unexpected and tremendous earth movements. These movements results from dissemination of an enormous amount of intense energy in form of seismic waves which are detected by use of seismograms. The impact of earthquakes leaves behind several landmarks including: destruction of property, extensive disruption of services like sewer and water lines, loss of life, and causes instability in both economic and social components of the affected nation (Webcache 2).
Earthquakes occur almost all over the world and often cause many casualties and injuries, but it is a common misconception to think that all earthquakes or even most of them cause destruction. In fact, most earthquakes aren’t even strong enough to be felt by humans and most animals, and can only be recorded by seismometers that are strategically placed in all corners of the world in order to get a reliable and precise reading on the earthquakes strength. Another common misconception about earthquakes is that people believe that the injuries and deaths that result from earthquakes are because of the earth’s shaking itself, whereas it is in fact usually because of heavy items falling from the incessant vibrations. Earthquakes can be defined as