Past disasters include the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 (magnitude 7.8) which along with subsequent fires destroyed much of the city. Droughts 1. Droughts in California can be caused by anticyclones (long-lasting periods of high air pressure with sinking, dry air. Dry, sinking air means no rain. 2.
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.
In Mexico City of 1985 and San Francisco of 1989 there were big earthquakes. Many people died and may buildings were destroyed. About 100,000 people were killed and over 300,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Both of these Earthquakes were quite similar. The 1985 Mexico City earthquake was one of the most devastating earthquakes in the history of the Americas.
At approximately 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906 the city of San Francisco was struck by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake! The main shock occurred offshore about 2 miles out. The earthquake happened along the San Andreas Fault line, and the shock was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles. The earthquake was extremely catastrophic which also resulted in fires. This earthquake is remembered as one of the most destructive natural disasters next to the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and hurricane Katrina of 2005.
This was the case in Sichuan, China in 2008 where severe ground shaking was the direct cause of death, injury and the catastrophic destruction of hospitals, roads and other infrastructure. An estimated 5.4 million buildings collapsed and a further 21 million were damaged. In poorer areas such as rural China, buildings are compromised despite strict regulations due to poor quality construction work and corruption meaning the correct materials is not used. Since 1976 China has had a stringent earthquake building code. Before the quake, millions of buildings in Sichuan pre-dated the 1976 code.
Quakes happen when the frictional stress from the movement exceeds the strength of the Earth’s rock. This results in a failure at a fault line. Then severe displacement of the Earth’s crust causes a release of an elastic strain of energy. This energy then creates shock waves that radiate and initiate an Earthquake. In the case of the Haiti earthquake, the Caribbean and North American plates slid past another in an east-west direction.
Historic Earthquakes Chile 1960 May 22 19:11:14 UTC Magnitude 9.5 The Largest Earthquake in the World Articles N.B. : The magnitude for this earthquake has been recalculated since the following articles were written. Magnitude 9.5 is a better determination of the size of this earthquake. More than 2,000 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; tsunami caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damge in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Phillippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States. Abridged from United States Earthquakes 1960, by H. Carroll Talley, Jr. and William K. Cloud.
I shall use examples of the Kobe Earthquake 1995, Boxing Day Tsunami 2004 and the Haiti Earthquake 2010. The earthquake of 2004 was caused by subduction of the Australian plate and the Eurasian Plate ,a 15-20m slip occurred along the fault line which then caused an earthquake measuring a 9.1 on the Richter scale. This a very high recording on the Richter scale so therefore it would always cause devastating hazards , but human factors could be seen as making the impacts far worse. The earthquake in the ocean had caused a tsunami to occur within the Indian Ocean. The wave reached up to 30 metres high causing devastation to the 13 countries surrounding the ocean.
Haiti Earthquake, January 2010 Terrah-Leigh Ann Pietersen On the 12th of January, 2010, an earthquake struck Haiti which measured up to 7.0 on the Richter scale. This caused an estimate of 230, 000 to 316, and 000 to have died. The earthquake was produced form the fault line that separates the Caribbean tectonic plate from the North American plate. The fault line ran from east to west. It was miles away from the capital called Port au Prince.
Generally the Californian society’s capacity to cope is high and thus they are affected differently! On the other hand The Philippines consists of 7000 islands which are all sited on a destructive plate boundary where the dense oceanic plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian plate. This generates deep focus earthquakes however with violent volcanic eruptions. For example during 1991 when Pinatubo erupted, around 700 people were killed and the damage was approximately