Lesson 4 – EARTHQUAKES

It is a vibration or tremor in the earth’s crust. The study of earthquakes is known as seismology,
and the person that studies earthquakes is known as a seismologist, earthquakes are vibrations or
tremors in the earth’s crust set up by movements along faults and plate margins which send out
shock waves through the earth’s crust and inner core. The exact location of this movement which
causes earthquakes maybe anywhere in the crust or as far as 700 km into the mantle, where it is
located is called the focus and the place immediately above it on the earth’s surface is the
epicenter. The dramatic earthquakes area is in California along the san Andrea’s fault zone this is
the fault that produced the earthquake in san Francisco in 1906 when rocks where displaced
horizontally by up to 7m.
Seismic waves – shock waves that travel through the crust of the earth. They are referred to as
primary waves (p waves) and secondary or shear waves (s waves).
How earthquakes are caused?
Earthquakes are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This
sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two blocks
of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. They don't just slide
smoothly; the rocks catch on each other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not
moving. After a while, the rocks break because of all the pressure that's built up. When the rocks
break, the earthquake occurs. During the earthquake and afterward, the plates or blocks of rock
start moving, and they continue to move until they get stuck again. Earthquake-like seismic
waves can also be caused by explosions underground. These explosions may be set off to break
rock while making tunnels for roads, railroads, subways, or mines. These explosions, however,
don't cause very strong seismic waves. You may not even feel them. Sometimes seismic waves
occur when the roof or walls of a mine collapse. These can sometimes be felt by people near the
mine. The largest underground explosions, from tests of nuclear warheads (bombs), can create
seismic waves very much like large earthquakes. This fact has been exploited as a means to
enforce the global nuclear test ban, because no nuclear warhead can be detonated on earth
without producing such seismic waves.
Distribution of earthquakes.
The world’s distribution of earthquakes coincides very closely with that of volcanoes. The region
of greatest seismic activity is the Circum-Pacific areas with the epicenter and the most frequent
occurrences along the pacific ring of fire. It is said that as much as 70% of earthquakes occur in
the Circum-Pacific belt, another 20% of earthquakes takes place in the Mediterranean Himalayan
Belt including Asia, the Himalayas and parts North west China elsewhere, the earth’s crust is
relatively stable, and is less prone to earthquakes, although nowhere can be said to be immune to
earth tremors.
How earthquakes are measured?
Earthquakes generate different types of waves by measuring the strength of these waves,
seismographs record the characteristics of these wave and from the measurement, and scientist
can also determine their location the strength of an earthquake can be measuring by magnitude
and intensity. Magnitude is a measure of the physical energy released or the vibrational energy
of the shock the richer goes up to 10 scale measures the magnitude and the modified goes up to
12 Mercalli scale measures the intensity. The intensity is the effect of an earthquake on the earths
surface.
Effects of earthquakes –
A hazard is distinguished from an extreme event and a disaster. A natural hazard is an extreme
event that occurs naturally and causes harm to humans – or to other things that we care about,
though usually the focus is on humans. Note that many hazards have both natural and artificial
components. Because hazards are threats of harm mainly to human systems, human activities
play a large role in how severe a hazard is. For example, when large numbers of people crowd
into floodplains and low-lying areas, they are putting themselves in harm’s way, increasing the
severity of potential floods.

Number of earthquakes worldwide for 2010–2020[1][2]

Magnitu 202
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
de 0

8.0–9.9 1 1 2 2 1 1 0 1 1 1 0
 7.0–7.9 23 19 14 17 11 18 16 6 16 9 7

6.0–6.9 151 187 117 123 143 127 131 104 118 135 80

5.0–5.9 2,220 2,486 1,546 1,460 1,580 1,413 1,550 1,447 1,671 1,484 914

10,13 13,12 10,95 11,87 15,81 13,77 13,70 11,54 12,78 11,89 8,28
4.0–4.9
8 9 5 7 7 7 0 4 2 7 0

12,53 15,82 12,63 13,48 17,55 15,33 15,39 13,10 14,58 13,53 9,28
Total
6 2 5 0 2 6 7 2 9 0 1

Date Measurement Country Effects

2020 ? ? ?
2019,September 24 5.6 Pakistan 176 deaths
2018,September 28 7.5 Indonesia 5239 deaths
2017,September 19 7.1 Mexico 369 deaths
2017,September 7 8.1 Mexico 90 deaths
2016, April 16 7.8 Ecuador > 650 deaths
2015,April 25 7.8 Nepal > 8000 deaths
2015, May 8 7.3 Nepal Cause an avalanche
killing 12 people, 8
million people
affected in India, and
Bangladesh, homes
where toppled in
mountain villages in
south west China.
The earthquake
caused $10 million
US in damages.
2014,Augest 3 6.2 China 700 deaths
2013, September 24 7.7 Pakistan 825 deaths
2012,Augest 11 6.4 Iran 306 deaths
2011, March 11 9.0 Japan 21492 deaths, caused
a Tsunami 90 feet
high, damages cost
 $360 billion US
2010,Febuary 27 8.8 Chile 700 deaths, damages
2010,January 12 7.0 Haiti cost over $30 billion
US
Over 316000 deaths,
1.5 million people
were left homeless
Fill in for 2020.