This earthquake was named Loma Prieta earthquake and occurred at a time of 5:04 (PDT) with a magnitude measurement of 6.9 and a surface wave magnitude of 7.1. The earthquake was caused by a slip in slip in San Andreas or a subsidiary and its epicenter was located ten miles northeast of the city Santa Cruz. The earthquake had also had a death toll of 62 people with the number of injured people reaching a amount of 3,757 ! Not only this however the earthquake had cost California approximately 6.8 billion dollars. This was because of many fires, houses with severe damages, and buildings with severe damages.
For the people of Sans Francisco, CA earthquake is routine practice as the area is tectonically active. History revealed that this area is seismically active and major earthquake was hit in 1906. So being a government official if it is reported by a geologist that earthquake is going to hit the area within next 48 hours, first of all I will manage an emergency plan to deal with earthquake. Secondly, the opinion of only one geologist is not that sufficient to evacuate people from their places and to launch local call on TV and newspaper that earth is going to hit. As far as question is concern that I will evacuate people or not the answer is “No”.
The tremendous eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 was the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 19th century. The eruption and the tsunamis it triggered killed tens of thousands of people. And the magnitude of the explosion is difficult to fathom. It has been estimated that Mount Tambora stood approximately 12,000 feet tall before the 1815 eruption, and the top 4,000 feet of the mountain was completely obliterated. Adding to the disaster's massive scale, the huge amount of dust blasted into the upper atmosphere by the Tambora eruption contributed to a bizarre and highly destructive weather event the following year.
Before the actual earthquake, there were several foreshocks. The actual earthquake caused more than 600 aftershocks bigger than magnitude 4.5 with the biggest aftershock of 7.7, 30 minutes after the first quake. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which travelled up to 10 km inland in the Sendai area, which caused loss of life, destruction of infrastructure and also a number of nuclear accidents, which included the Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown. The short term impacts of the Tohoku Earthquake is: loss of life, destruction of infrastructure causing transportation and delivery issues, radiation scare to the population , radiated food supply source, money spent to rebuild buildings, clean up, stocks fell. The long term impacts include: distrust of other nuclear facilities, loss of confidence in TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), distrust to the government to keep the population safe, Tohoku's agriculture and fishing industry being restored, destructions of farmland, traumatisation.
The epicentre was a town named Leogane; about 19km (12 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, thousands were left homeless and up to 80-90% of buildings in Leogane were destroyed. The quake was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitudes. It was the worst earthquake to hit the Caribbean island in 2 centuries. The island lies on the Enriquilla-Plantain Garden Fault however it was caused by an interaction between the North American and Caribbean Plates. After which the barely noticed island became the centre of the world’s news channels, it became one of the most noticed natural disasters in history with celebrities and normal people alike doing allsorts to raise money and aid for the victims of the quake.
It's on a destructive margin (a margin where land/crust is destroyed by it being pushed down under another plate, where the plates are moving together). Over time, the volcanic activity at this margin has made Japan, in the same way that Hawaii was formed. Unfortunately, because the earth still shifts a lot, Japan is constantly threatened by severe earthquakes. Earthquakes in the past have killed hundreds of thousands of people. Japan is in the same situation as California, which is right along the San Andreas fault.
At this plate margin, the Pacific plate is being pushed under the Eurasian plate, stresses build up and when they are released the Earth shakes. This is a subduction zone. The focus was only 16km below the crust and this happened on the 17th Jan 1995 at 5.46am. 10 million people live in this area. Effects The effects of this earthquake were catastrophic for an MEDC.
2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami: Aftermath Problems On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake in Japan’s history struck off the northeast coast of Japan. The epicenter was located about 80 miles from the shore of Tohoku, approximately 20 miles under water, and with a magnitude of 9.0, given by the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It ranked second only to the Sumatra earthquake and the Indian Ocean Tsunami of magnitude 9.1 in 2004 (Hatake). The Tohoku earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves, which traveled well into the mainland, damaging many buildings and infrastructures, not to mention lives. Additionally, over five hundred aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater have occurred since the initial quake (Ananda).
China, Sichuan earthquake 2008 Location: On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province, which is 92 km to the north-west of Chengdu City, a mountainous region in Western China, killing about 80,000 people and leaving over 18,000 missing. Over 15 million people lived in the affected area, including almost 4 million in the city of Chengdu. http://sergiu.turcanu.net/strong-earthquake-hits-china/map-of-the-sichuan-earthquake/ Causes: The earthquake was caused by the collision between two tectonic plates, the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate.This collision, is the cause of the high mountains and widespread seismicity observed throughout central Asia. The area of dense circles between India and Asia covers a wide region that is undergoing large strain and deformation. It is this strain that led to the Sichuan quake.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2007. Web. 24 Mar 2011. <http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0831198.html>. "The Influence of Sea Power upon History."