Essay on EarthQuakes

In Valdivia, Chile 1960 an earthquake changed the lives of many. An earthquake is the violent shaking of the ground that will destroy homes, buildings, landforms, historical monuments, and lives. Earthquakes begin with the breakage of rock along a fault line. When two tectonic plates rub against each other they create an earthquake. Earthquakes will ride along a fault line which will determine how long the quake will go on. The larger and longer the fault like the bigger the earthquake. Earthquakes send out waves, primary waves or, p waves and secondary waves or, s waves travel along the interior of the earth. These two waves are called body waves. While detecting the waves, the primary waves appear first then the secondary waves. Primary waves travel through solids, liquids, and gasses, which means they are about to travel through the liquid center. Secondary waves are only able to travel through solids which are why scientists have found that there is a loss of these waves once they reach the center.

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.

water fractures within the earth. Causing certain areas of the land to have an earthquake effect

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

A ‘hazard’ can be defined as a geophysical process operating within the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere or biosphere which could potentially lead to the loss of human life or property. However, an earthquake only becomes hazardous and therefore needs management if it occurs within close proximity to a vulnerable population. To some extent, any human settlement around the world situated close to or on top of an area of seismic activity is vulnerable. However, not all nations suffer equal devastation.

The first few seconds of your first earthquake are disconcerting. You don’t know what’s happening. The undulation, the noise, the inability to focus -- it’s all disconcerting. But once you’ve been in a few, you know the feeling. You don’t relax, but you don’t panic, either.

Earthquakes are caused when two blocks of earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where the two blocks slip is called the fault. The earthquake starts below the earth’s surface at the hypocenter, and the location above the hypocenter is called the epicenter. Earthquakes can have foreshocks which is a smaller earthquake that happens before the larger quake. Earthquake can also

This causes the ground to shake either not that hard or vigorously. What some folks don’t know is that there happens to be many earthquakes every day just we do not happen to feel them as much. Other earthquakes are huge and have a big impact.

An earthquake would be classified as a sudden ferocious shaking of the ground, typically causing great obliteration because of manoeuvre within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.

Earthquakes have been recorded throughout history for thousands of years. Even before seismographs in early times, there are records and accounts of mysterious ground shaking. Earthquakes occur when rocks break along an underground fault (UPSeis, 2007). This, in return, causes vibrations through the earth which causes ground shaking. The magnitude of the shaking varies depending on how great the movement along the fault is; the greater the movement, the bigger the earthquake. Some earthquakes are huge and cause significant damage, while others are small and cause little or no damage what-so-ever. Earthquakes are unpredictable, and can happen at any time. It is uncertain where an earthquake will strike, but there is a greater risk

The most common cause of earthquakes is movement along faults. Earth’s crust is divided into tectonic plates, which grind past each other at fault boundaries. As tectonic plates move,

“I felt very at home in California, but the place is prone to earthquakes, and the one in 1944 scared the life out of me. For months afterwards, I felt that every time I sat down, I should have to put on a seatbelt.” Earthquakes are when tectonic plates slip past each other causing a “snap’. The ground shakes violently and can even crack. Though the occurrence of an earthquake is dreadful, familiarizing yourself with the causes and effects can be useful, and in turn make it less scary.

Earthquakes are a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust. You can’t know when or how much the damage of the shock will be. I think that predicting earthquakes is a bad science because of how often and not they happen.

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

     An Earthquake is the shaking of the earth's surface caused by rapid movement of the earth's rocky outer layer. The sudden shaking of the ground that occurs when masses of rock change position below the Earth's surface is called an earthquake. The shifting masses send out shock waves that may be powerful enough to alter the surface of the Earth, thrusting up cliffs and opening great cracks in the ground.