Discuss the view that the impact of earthquake hazards depends primarily on human factors (40)

The San Andreas fault line has caused constant development nightmares for large urban areas such as San Francisco as well as the other cities built on top of it. Fault lines are one of the side effects of the earth’s tectonic plates shifting that can result in devastating earthquakes. Some of the most devastating earthquakes in our modern era have occurred along the San Andreas fault line due to a dense population. The most notable and destructive earthquake on the San Andreas fault line occurred in San Francisco in 1906. The reason this earthquake was so deadly was because of its magnitude and the city’s poor planning. This earthquake was a wakeup call for San Francisco and force the city to revolutionize its knowledge on earthquakes and how to protect their city. Today San Francisco is one of the most well prepared cities for an earthquake and has made great discoveries in earthquake safety measures. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco has drastically changed how the city has developed its zoning and building code policies, and its earthquake research.

Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.

Of all the naturally occurring events on Earth, earthquakes are among the most devastating and bring a lot of truth to the statement, “Just because something is natural does not mean it is not dangerous.” Earthquakes are one of the most natural things I can think of that can cause massive damage and loss of human live in many instances, and the effects are sometimes long term. “Nothing happens without a force. Many geophysicists accept the theory that continents move as a result of the forces generated by mantel convection deep within Earth – motions driven by our planet’s internal heat energy” (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). According to National Geographic (1996-2012), constant movement in the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s

People are killed injured and left homeless. This earthquake in 1906 was the most devastating and most memorable. Earthquakes can destroy towns, cities, and even countries. Earthquakes most occur under the ocean and very rural areas. Thy only occur at fault lines where the earth's plates are moving opposite of eachother.

‘Natural disasters are often not natural disasters, but in fact human disasters. Discuss this statement according to seismic events’

According to Statista, “In 2010, about 320,120 people died as a result of earthquakes worldwide.” If the policies regarding earthquakes are changed, the number of casualties as a result of earthquakes can be lessened and the amount lives that are saved will be increased. The current amount of casualties as a result of earthquakes

This report will focus on examples of different earthquakes happening around the world and explain why some countries cope better than others. To cope well, the country should have low death tolls, good communication with rescue services and other countries willing to help, evacuation and other emergency plans are planned well, and minimizing the amount of damage done to the country.

Another influential factor that affects the degree of the hazard is where the epicentre is closer to a rural or urban area. Rural area tend to cope with earthquakes much better as there are less buildings that are likely to collapse and rural areas are typically sparsely populated, therefore a smaller amount of people are likely to be affected by the impacts of the earthquake. However, rural areas are less likely to have the infrastructure that could cope with the impacts of a serious earthquake whereas cities do, e.g. earthquake buildings. Many people in rural areas also have less knowledge of the impacts of earthquakes and may not know how to respond during or after the quake. In densely populated urban areas such as L’Aquila, Italy the effects of earthquakes can be much more detrimental as gas pipes can burst, habitats can be lost and thousands of buildings can be damaged. These in turn can have negative secondary affects for example in L’Aquila 70,000 people were made homeless and the bursting of gas pipes resulted in the spread of fire across the city, causing more damage.

4. Some factors to consider when thinking about how dangerous on place may be in an earthquake would be things like what the ground is like beneath a foundation, the liquefaction risk, you physical location related to a fault, and even the materials used in a building.

‘Tectonic hazard profiles determine the way in which people and governments respond to hazards.’ Discuss. (Total 70 marks)

As a result, life for tens of thousands of people changed forever. After the initial shake over one thousand-people perished from collapsing buildings, freeway underpasses and power lines. Unfortunately, this number have been doubled by the fires all over the city which fueled by broken gas lines and years of extreme drought. As reality kicks in most of the resident struggle with everyday life following the devastating effects of the quake. Water, gas, power lines are broken for that reason large areas are without utilities. In the first days following the earthquake neighbors and friends get together to help whenever help is needed. They are searching for survivals among the rubbles of collapsed buildings, treating the injured and sharing the limited resources they left with. As they realize that they won’t able to get outside help for a while looting become the norm for necessities like water, food and medicine. The local law enforcement unable to keep order as armed groups of people roaming the city to collect resources for themselves. In the meanwhile, the air become unbreathable outdoors for some due to the uncontrolled fires all over the city. Coupled with, the

Purpose: Everyone will think that we are living in a peaceful state now and ignore to pay attention to the natural disaster information. On the contrary, this thought in your mind will reduce your sense of crisis. Believe or not, increase a sense of crisis of the earthquake and learn more earthquake information can decrease the damage when the earthquakes occur in our life

In conclusion, I believe that natural disasters are influenced by both human activity and the nature of the event. Eg. 2 different countries could have the same magnitude of earthquakes but the impacts of one could be greater than the other due to poorly built infrastructure, the speed of response to the event and the access of the country to technology in order to prepare, predict and attempt to reduce the impacts. I do accept that disasters are natural but

Earthquakes are a marvel of geology. When faults under the surface of the earth move, the ground moves. These earthquakes can be very mild, barely registering or they can be horrific with far-reaching consequences. Scientists have become fascinated with the study of earthquakes for centuries but it is only in recent years that quantified data has been collected and analyzed by scientists regarding these geologic phenomena. Before the invention of the Richter scale, less accurate means of measuring an earthquake's intensity were used by geological scientists.

Growing up in Southern California, I remember practicing earthquake drills in elementary school. Teachers instructed us to protect our head and quickly seek cover under our desks during the drills. They told us that if a quake happened at home, finding a doorframe to stand under would be the safest place for us. As children living in an earthquake zone, the conversations of earthquake safety happened yearly, but because big and devastating earthquakes like the one in Nepal have not occurred