Deen Altawil
Professor Robert Franklin
Geography 180
October, 11, 2017
Shaking Grounds of Mother Nature
Recently we have been exposed to many natural disasters. Mother Nature has been unpredictable and cannot be stopped. We have witness many hurricanes, bizarre weather changes, and recent earthquakes. All of this impact of Mother Nature left a tremendous effect in our lives. My research paper focuses on “Earthquakes”. How do we define earthquakes?. According to Oxford dictionary “Earthquake is a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action”. Earthquakes always been considered as one of many epitome of natural disasters that changes many lives, earthquakes causes
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The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:30am,the quake was caused by the sudden rupture of a previously undocumented blind thrust fault, it hit a magnitude of 6.7, the earthquake was so strong parts of Los Angeles area, Ventura area, Las Vegas, and San Diego felt the shake of the earthquake, there were many fatalities about 60 deaths, and 2000 injuries. This earthquake caused widespread damage that included damages to freeways, apartment buildings collapsing, gas stations caught on fire, and thousands of homes were severely damaged. It was so awful it took billions of dollars to repair damages and to rebuild. The San Francisco occurred on April, 18, 1906 at 5:12 am. This earthquake magnitude was at 7.8. This earthquake was the greatest devastation of all time. More than 3,000 people died, the city of San Francisco was about 80% damaged. Not only the city suffered this massive earthquake but the city has to deal with dozen of aftershock. There were many massive buildings on fire, the damages was horrific that it cost billions to rebuild the city. It was named one of the worst tragedy that humankind ever experienced. The Northridge Earthquake
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake hit the Northern California coastline. The San Andreas fault shook 296 miles of the coast causing major damage throughout San Francisco, destroying about 80% of the city. Fires broke out throughout the city that lasted for several days. This was one of the worst Earthquakes recorded in history, killing 3,000 people.("The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake")
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.
On the night of April 18, 1906, the whole town was woken by erratic shaking. Although the earthquake lasted under a measly minute, it caused significant damage. Many fires started all throughout the city; San Francisco burned in turmoil.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was one of the largest earthquakes in the United States. Even though it only lasted less than a minute, the damages and aftermath of the earthquake were disastrous. These damages were not just from the earthquake, but also from other hazards that occurred because of it. It also had a huge effect on the people living in San Francisco. Many people, the government, and other countries helped the city of San Francisco with relief goods like food and clothing. The city used up their resources in order to rebuild the city and spent a lot of money. This earthquake also started a scientific revolution about earthquakes and its effects.
With the winds and waters sweeping away taking away people’s lives and property the storm made it to be one of the costliest in the history of America. According to FEMA:
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18th, 1906, the California city of San Francisco was awoken by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Chaos erupted with the earthquake leading to fire break outs throughout San Francisco (Cameron and Gordon. Pgs 69-73).The earthquake and the resulting fires caused destruction to majority of the city with buildings crumbling and igniting into flames. Many people died along with thousands and thousands of people being left homeless. This devastating earthquake left the city and United States in a financial crisis. Although the 1906 earthquake was one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, the city of San Francisco was able to overcome these substantial physical, social and economic impacts it had.
Not surprisingly, the study showed that lower Manhattan absorbed the greatest damage. In addition to the thousands of lives that were lost in the destruction of the World Trade Center, the downtown region lost 100,000 jobs along with close to 30 percent of office space in the wake of the attack.
At 5:12 in the morning of Wednesday, April 18, 1906 an earthquake struck the City of San Francisco according to seismograph records. People remembered this event as especially violent and everyone within the vicinity woke up to white dust in the air from fallen debris. As remembered by a bystander of the event, “I was awakened by a very severe shock of earthquake. The shaking was so violent that it nearly threw me out of bed... As soon as it was over, I got up and went to the window, and saw the street filled with a white dust” (Stetson, 21). The strong shaking lasted from 45 to 60 seconds, which people felt from as far north as southern Oregon and as far south as Los Angeles. The earthquake caused the water supply to shut off. As a result of the lack of water supply, firefighters cou...
The bomb nearly blew up half of the building. 19 of the 168 lives taken were children under the age of 6, placed in the building at a daycare. The blast destroyed or made an impact on 324 buildings that were located within a sixteen-block radius. It had destroyed or burned 86 cars and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings. 652 million dollars of damage was caused by the explosion.
October 17, 1989. Damage for this San Francisco Bay Area quake are close to 4 billion. The
The San Francisco Earthquake commenced at five thirteen o’clock in the morning, with the epicenter offshore of San Francisco. The city carried more than 400,000 people during this event (Earthquake of 1906, 1). Most of the
It not only destroyed the homes of the people who lived there but it also messed with their head. It caused then to think differently and jump to conclusions. Though they eventually recovered the emotional and mental damage stuck with them.
In the early morning hours on January 17th, 1994 a very violent tremble took place across Los Angeles, California area that left fifty-seven people dead, more than 7,000 injured, more than 20,000 homeless and left over 40,000 buildings damaged. Around 4:30 a.m. a horrific 6.7 magnitude earthquake, that tested building codes and earthquake-resistant construction, shook Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Orange Counties with the most intense damage occurring in Sherman Oaks and Northridge. The earthquake caused several bridges and overpasses to collapse closing sections of the Santa Monica Freeway, Simi Valley Freeway, Golden State Freeway, and the Antelope Valley Freeway. There were also several fire outbreaks throughout the San Fernando Valley, Malibu, and Venice area because of underground gas lines that had been ruptured during the earthquake that caused additional damage.
Abstract- A tragedy that was a catastrophe and had no parallel in the world’s industrial history. Tons of toxic gas was leaked and spread throughout the city. An estimated 10,000 people died and 500,000 suffered injuries with disastrous effect.