American Earthquake

The pictures from the L.A. Times are a snap shot of the devastation that occurred in San Francisco on April 18, 1906, and they are riveting. There are men and women in period dress standing in the streets surrounded by swirls of water, and looking ahead down a hilly street to the plumes of smoke overtaking the city. It began with an earthquake between 7.8 and 8.3 magnitude on April 18, 1906 at around 5:12 to 5:13 AM, and ended in three days of fires with 90 percent of the city in ruins and an estimated 3,000 lives lost. After several days of fires, building and houses laid gutted and in ruins. Why was the earthquake so deadly and how could it cause such devastation?

The damages were catastrophic as houses lay in ruin and debris littered the roads. There were mudslides and fallen rocks that paved the roads and made them impassible for vehicles to get through. Ultimately by the roads being clogged up the response time by rescue workers and essential personal were hampered. This also made it exceptionally difficult for supplies to be rushed to the locations for the earthquake survivors. As some were digging and excavating for survivors they were being halted by aftershocks and falling debris from above. Approximately 8000 people were killed either by their houses caving in or by the other disasters this earthquake triggered. It was a real life tragedy that

Imagine if you had to restart your life, new shelter, new job, new lifestyle. Well locals or people in the Philippines had to restart their life when an earthquake with an magnitude of 7.1 hit the country and destroyed people’s lives. The earthquake had a devastating 7.1 magnitude. The earthquake hit the Philippines on October 15th, 2013. The likely culprit of the earthquake was the East Bohol Fault because the two tectonic plates were sliding against each other and the creates an earthquake. Sadly, earthquake killed more than 90 people. Ports, schools, and airports were damaged. A hospital collapsed then that lead to a killing of 18 people. Children were also injured at sports complexes because people rushed the exits when the the ground started to shake. Lastly, 5 people were killed in a landslide that was triggered from the earthquake. What really matters though is how people respond to the

Have you ever been in a deadly earthquake? In 2013, the people of the Philippines experienced one. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake that affected around 43,000 people with 2,211 aftershocks that ended up killing a total of 185 people. Earthquakes are known as one of the most dangerous natural disasters. This horrific event happened October 15th, 2013. The earthquake hit hardest in the central Philippines, it was reported to be caused by the East Bohol Fault. People act in a response to a natural disaster by gathering resources, spreading word, and government aid.

The Kobe earthquake in Japan 1995 struck at 5.45am. Many people were asleep in bed, causing the hazard to be increased because the people were unaware. Although many Japanese buildings were of aseismic design, the roofs of their houses were designed to withstand typhoons and so were very heavy. When the earthquake struck many people

It was exactly thirty-seven minutes ago that the shaking started. I’ve felt earthquakes before, but none were anywhere near what this was. Within the first two minutes, the buildings all around me were reduced to rubble. I was very fortunate to be in my car in the center of the freeway. The large steel factories and tall skyscrapers that I normally looked at in the distance were now nowhere to be found. The shaking lasted for years. That’s what it felt like,

It had caused a Tsunami and a landslide and ports, schools, airports, and hospitals collapsed (Background Essay). Natural Disasters happen when Tectonic Plates

I just recall that moment and I think that everything was fine we all were happy together but that one minute of earthquake turn into the worst earthquake in the history of America. Almost everyone lost their beloved ones. But we all have to move on and after that San Francisco recover itself very quickly and now it is one of the most developed state of

The intensity of the earthquake was outrageous, even scientist found it difficult to believe how strong the earthquake was. On the the intensity scale, this earthquake reached the highest level. Not only was the earthquake an issue, the the fires that were taking place only made the overall outcome worst. This fire lasted for over 3 days and there was no possible

The most widespread impact of the earthquake and the resulting tsunami to was the loss of housing. It is estimated that “three million people were affected by the quake – nearly one-third of the country’s total population.” (Pallardy, 2016). This includes the originally estimated 222,570 people who died in the initial crisis and the more than one million individuals who were left homeless. This massive destruction of housing was due to

The reaction was not quick enough and the wave washed away towns and cities destroying motorway bridges and airports. This made the response process even harder as they had to not only cope with the initial unpredictable earthquake but the tsunami and the effect on the infrastructure which followed. The local government did build sea walls high enough to protect against the effects of the previous tsunami however they didn’t imagine a more powerful wave would ever strike the coast. Even when tectonic activity can be predicted there are still challenges for the community – however not being able to predict them at all clearly is the largest challenge for many. If there had been a tsunami warning system in place in Japan, maybe the death toll would have been reduced.

Researchers have found that if a 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes the U.S’s california there is a great chance that a tsunami will occur. If that happens it will cost over 70 billion dollars to repair. People around that area would only have a 15 minute notice to flee. It could destroy roads, power lines, bridges, towns, and so much more. Over 100,00 people would die at an estimate. There has been two major earthquakes. One of the earthquakes was on a sunday and at a 6.8 magnitude and the other one in 2005 was at a 7.0 magnitude. In california there has been six earthquakes over a 7.0 magnitude or greater in the past 100 years. Scientists have focused on the 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami in japan in

Many people not only lost their lives and families because of this earthquake, but also, what soon followed next. No one expected the epidemic that soon accompanied this earthquake: The Cholera Outbreak.

Had they forecasted Mount Pinatubo to erupt, but it never did, then the people of Luzon would be less likely to believe future forecasts, an obvious threat to public safety. To summarize, there are both pros and cons of calling for an evacuation. If the disaster does occur, then lives may be saved and economic damage may be minimized, but if the disaster doesn’t occur, then the downsides of the evacuation won’t be justified. There are no easy answers, but it does make sense to urge evacuation when there’s a reasonable chance that human lives would be put at risk and/or when potential economic losses would outweigh the economic losses of an evacuation. Although the eruption of Mount Pinatubo wasn’t 100 percent certain, the possibility of 5 to twenty thousand deaths and over USD 1 billion in economic damage definitely justified an evacuation, in that specific

Japan had not experienced an earthquake of this magnitude in four centuries. Although the technology was available to detect the earthquake it was not enough to prevent a catastrophe.