8 H October 26, 2012 1886 Charleston Earthquake In Charleston August 31, 1886, a devastating earthquake shocked millions throughout the country. Not only was this earthquake reported in South Carolina, but in distant places such as Boston, Massachusetts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, Cuba, Bermuda, and many more. Why so many places? The earthquake recorded a 7.4 on the Richter scale. This tells us that it’s a powerful earthquake, reaching and being felt by farther away places.
The initial impact was devastating which left about 300,000 people homeless out of a population of about 410,000. Many of the people were evacuated to nearby cities, and the others lived in makeshift tents on the beach of North beach. In fact years later in 1908 these refugee camps were still in operation. The overall cost of the damages was estimated at the time to be 400 million US Dollars (around 8.2 Billion present Dollars). The fires that were a direct result from the main shock and the aftershocks were just as damaging because of the uncontrollable burning from ruptured gas lines.
The fault system that split to result in this earthquake was the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. What were its effects on the environment? The greatest issue that the quake had on Haiti is the building waste. Before the earthquake even occurred, Haiti already had environmental complications. Combining these ecological issues with Haiti’s ever-growing population (now 9.7 million are increasing by 2.5 per cent each year) this becomes the result of millions of Haitians being forced to live in low areas like floodplains.
As a result of an earthquake in Haiti (2010) up to 230,000 people were killed. The city of Port-Au-Prince lies close to the fault line where the epicentre of the earthquake was located, which meant that the city bore the brunt of the destructive force. A large proportion of the population live in poverty in slum areas, where buildings are built close together and in some cases on top of each other, resulting in a high population density. When the earthquake struck many buildings collapsed, killing people as rubble collapsed on top of them. However, the L’Aquila earthquake in Italy resulted in a mere 300 deaths.
A tsunami warning was given 5 minutes after the earthquake by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. However, this was too late for the inhabitants of Okushiri. The quake caused fires to start in the town of Okushiri, adding greatly to the total damage. Parts of Okushiri Island were protected by concrete sea walls up to 4.5 metres high, designed to deflect the power of tsunami waves. However, the tsunami of 1993 broke through the walls.
It also destroyed a lot of property which is estimated to be about $6 billion. This is the biggest earthquake ever to occur and recorded along the fault lines of San Andreas from the previous massive earthquake back in April of 1906. Most of the property devastation that was caused by the earthquake happened in the Oakland and also in San Francisco areas that were about 100 kilometers northwards from the fault line where the section moved in the San Andreas region. A lot of houses collapsed while several reinforced –concrete viaducts were destroyed in four areas of Oakland and also San Francisco. The areas namely: Embarcadero Freeway, Nimitz Freeway, which is in Highway 10, Oakland and the Interstate 280.
Earthquake in Haiti January 12, 2010, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit Haiti. Earthquake caused a lot of damage in Port-Au-prince, Leogane, Jacmel, and many of the surrounding communities. The earthquake left many Haitians homeless and with ruined crops. After 15 days the earthquake hit, the government estimated that their was 230,000 deaths, and about one million displaced people within the area of port-au-prince. 598,000 people migrated from the affected areas to other locations in Haiti.
In January of 2010 the small country of Haiti, about the size of the state of Maryland, was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, killing 300,000 people in the countries capital of Port-au-Prince. Immediately after this horrible natural disaster hit, all types of help and relief were sent to Haiti to help. However this is not the first time in the country's history that it needed intervention. Practically for the past 100 years the country it needed some type of help. Although Haiti is far from being a first world country, all the help and intervention the country received it greatly needed.
Using a tectonic activity you have studied, how effective was the management of the event? On 12th January 2010, at 16:53, a Magnitude 7 earthquake struck with epicentre just a short distance west of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital city. 3,000,000 people required aid, 230,000 died, and 1,000,000 people were made homeless. It is true to say that a M7 earthquake would cause devastation in any country, but this was particularly so in Haiti due to the poor management of the event. There are three main factors to consider when assessing the management of a tectonic event: prediction, preparation, and response.
Dhamar, Yemen: Earthquake Crisis In December, 1982 a disastrous earthquake hit the city of Dahmar, Yemen. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.0 Mb and resulted in 1,600 deaths and $2 billion in damages to the town (Lohman) . Living in these conditions made it especially hard for the villagers because of their lack of equipment, money, and man-power which forced them to live in ruins after the earthquake occurred. One major problem that caused damaged to the villagers of Dhamar was housing built on rocks and rock outcrops. These buildings were also constructed of rock rather than adobe that are in other parts of the country.