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What Effect Do Earthquakes Have On Coastal Cities

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One impact that an earthquake would have is that it would kill people. In the last 500 years several million people have been killed due to earthquakes. Huge losses to property also happen because of buildings collapsing. Electric poles, roads, bridges, canals, ect. also get badly damaged. Most of the time these damages happen because the earthquakes shake the earth or rupture the surface. Earthquakes can also cause landslides around hilly areas that can destroy property and can take lives. Earthquakes can even cause fires because of breakage of gas pipes or electric lines while the earthquake is in motion. Lastly, earthquakes can create tsunamis. Tsunamis are not usually created on their own, and they can be made because of an earthquake in …show more content…

The flooding would mainly be because the water levels get so high that they cover over land in the cities. Some coastal cities in the U.S.A. have floods multiple times every year because of the sea levels rising. Cities may also have their drinking water contaminated by the salt water from the ocean. When the seawater is coming up onto the shore it may get into the water sources that are in the ground that so many people in the coastal cities rely on. The freshwater sources underground are called aquifers, and water that is in the ground makes up for most of the freshwater in the world. Another thing that would happen if these aquifers were contaminated would be that the farming would be interfered with. The water that people use for irrigation is usually the same water they get for drinking. The water would be saltier and would stunt or kill crops. Making freshwater from saltwater is expensive and unsustainable. Plants would be affected by the water creeping closer up on the shore too. If the water seeps into the soil that plants are living in it would make the soil saltier and plants may stop growing by the shoreline. Trees would have a really hard time because they would have to work harder to pull the water out of the salty soil and that may stunt their growth or kill them. The sea level rising would also affect wildlife too, as many species of wildlife make their home on the …show more content…

An estimated 47% of their population is exposed to the effects of the rising sea levels. The second most exposed country is Vietnam. 26% of their population could be at risk. That is another country that would be devastated by the effects of seawater levels rising. Thailand is the country next to Vietnam for most at risk country. They have an estimated 12% of their population vulnerable to the effects of rising sea levels. Not nearly as big a percentage as the first two but still pretty disastrous. The country that would be fourth most affected would be Japan. This is probably because it is simply made up of islands. 10% of their population is

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