To show the view that the impact of earthquake hazards depends primarily on human factors, I will situate the essay around some seismic events that have previously occurred; Haiti in the Caribbean, 2010, Christchurch in New Zealand, 2011, Sichuan in China, 2008 and Indian Ocean, 2004. Monitoring and predictions can help to reduce the impacts that can arise from earthquakes. Although earthquakes are much more difficult to predict than volcanoes monitoring systems can help to identify changes which could lead to a future earthquake, though it is hard to accurately predict when the event may actually occur. The value of prediction however is
‘How do people and society respond to environmental hazards and what factors influence their choice of adjustments?’ (Cutter 1996). Discuss this statement with reference to examples of both natural and technological hazards. Introduction Environmental hazards fall under two headings: Chronic and Catastrophic. Catastrophic hazards are those with a high magnitude and low frequency. They create huge media attention as the rate of change from what would have been considered as ‘normal’ conditions is very high, for example an earthquake can turn an entire city to ruins and kill hundreds of people in just minutes.
As a result, earthquakes can and do occur, notably on Luzon Island in 1990. It measured 7.8 on the Richter Scale and killed over 1500 people. A reason for this major difference in death rate compared to California is that the Philippines is poorer than California and so cannot afford as much earthquake-proof buildings and the buildings are of poor quality. This may mean the buildings can collapse easily and so can kill people easily. A natural hazard that does not affect California but common in the Philippines are tropical storms.
New Zealand Learning from past earthquakes, New Zealand has implemented strict building codes. Modern homes are generally built with timber-frame constructions, which flex and absorb the some energy of an earthquake. Modern commercial and office buildings are generally constructed with isolated foundations, whilst many historic buildings have been restored with earthquake-proofing structures. Still, there was significant damage in Christchurch, most often to older un-reinforced brick structures, and in areas where liquefaction amplified the ground shaking. The damage in Canterbury is estimated at around $2billion.
Measures to manage the problem were efficiently introduced by the government, though much losses could be observed, including death of 9 people and high level of pollution in nearby areas. Natural hazard events in most cases cannot be predicted. Although some speculation of flood or drought may appear when precipitation anomalies occur and river water-levels vary, as well as earthquake may be preceded by anomalies in earth’s magnetic field, even with the use of technology it is impossible to predict those distasters. Many of them, similarly to human induced hazards, occur unexpectedly and cause long term damages, as it was in case of Haiti earthquake in 2010, however the scale is much
The destruction suffered along the Gulf Coast indeed profound. “More than 1000 lives were lost; property and homes in pieces” (Voosun & Miller, 2006, p. 1). The debris left by Hurricane Katrina trailed jobs, businesses, and properties destroyed, leaving behind families, and lives that seemed shattered. “The destruction wrought by the Hurricane Katrina was multilayered and profound. The lives breached resulted in flooding up to 80% of the city with water rising 25 feet in some places” (Voosun & Miller, 2006, p. 1).
DEATH TOLL The earthquake caused 5100 deaths, mainly in Kobe. The Hanshin earthquake was the worst earthquake in Japan since the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, which is also called the Great Kanto earthquake. The Great Kanto earthquake claimed 140,000 lives. On the other hand, the Kobe region was thought to be fairly safe in terms of seismic activity. STRUCTURAL DAMAGE The cities of Kobe and Osaka are connected by an elevated highway.
Index Terms — Seismic Data Acquisition, Earthquake, Accelerometer, ARM, ADC I. INTRODUCTION An earthquake is a natural disaster which can cause damage and loss of lives. It is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. Degree of the damage caused by an earthquake depends upon the distance between the affected area and the epicenter, and also upon the magnitude which indicates how much energy is released from the origin to the Earth’s crust [1]. Analysis of seismic signals is done by seismometers at monitoring stations.
The Great Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan and sent a thirty-three foot tsunami raging down the coast to devastate their towns even further. To make matters even worse, the earthquake also triggered a nuclear emergency that has been compared to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. (McCurry, 1) This earthquake was the worst earthquake in Japan’s recorded history. (McCurry, 1) It would not be surprising if people will still talk about it for centuries to come. The earthquake began off of the north-eastern coast of Honshu and caused catastrophic damage.
The Modified Mercalli scale allows scientists to measure the damage of structures from the earthquakes. The Richter scale allows scientists to measure the amount of energy the was release by earthquakes. Lastly, the Seismograph allows scientists to record the earthquake’s waves. I do think that these scales are reliable but I also think they can be totally unreliable. They could pick up something that is wrong or false and then we would not be able to reevaluate the earthquake.