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.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF A SIGNIFICANT EVENT IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD In the year 79 AD, a mountain in Italy called Mount Vesuvius erupted, the eruption is one of the most catastrophic and famous of all time. Surrounding Roman cites; Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were two densely populated towns located in the Bay of Naples were obliterated by the eruption. It is not known how many people the eruption killed. LOCATION OF THE AREAS AFFECTED BY THE ERUPTON This map shows the cities surrounding Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Stabiae, Oplontis and Herculaneum which were all destroyed during the eruption. This map also shows the area of the smoke plume from the eruption.
This produced an immense amount of energy casing a massive explosion in the reactor. The explosion completely destroyed the reactor and released harmful radioactive agents into the environment. The explosion at reactor 4 was immediately followed by an even bigger explosion that completely destroyed the reactor building structure. Super heated graphite and other reactor components
Then, the day after the nuclear explosion, the contaminated dust and water rain down and contaminate a large area. This rain is known as the fallout. The head wave comes from the gigantic energy that develops from the detonation. In the center of the detonation, the temperature can reach several million degrees. The head wave only takes a few seconds, but it kills everyone within a three-mile radius.
Cities are located near dangerous earthquake zones all throughout the country, from the most infamous on the West Coast to potential time bombs in the Midwest and even on the Eastern Seaboard. Stretching from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to northern California is the Cascadia subduction zone, where one giant plate of the Earth's surface is diving deep beneath another one. “The very largest earthquakes all occur on subduction zones”, said seismologist Geoffrey Abers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in New York. "These are also the faults that make very large tsunamis that propagate across ocean basins to cause a lot of damage.” This means that our home state, Washington, falls into that “at risk” category. The earthquake threat in Washington is
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.
"2011 Miyagi earthquake" redirects here. For the aftershock that occurred on 7 April, see April 2011 Miyagi earthquake. 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami 東北地方太平洋沖地震 An aerial view of damage in the Tōhoku region with black smoke coming from the Nippon Oil Sendai oil refinery Peak tsunami wave height locations, color-coded with red representing most severe Date Friday, 11 March 2011 Origin time 14:46:23 JST (UTC+09:00) Duration 6 minutes[1] Magnitude 9.0 (Mw)[2][3] Depth 32 km (20 mi) Epicenter 38°19′19″N 142°22′08″E / 38.322°N 142.369°E / 38.322; 142.369Coordinates: 38°19′19″N 142°22′08″E / 38.322°N 142.369°E / 38.322; 142.369 Type Megathrust earthquake Countries or regions Japan (primary) Pacific Rim (tsunami, secondary) Total damage Tsunami wave, flooding, landslides, fires, building and infrastructure damage, nuclear incidents including radiation releases Max. intensity IX Peak acceleration 3.0 g Tsunami Yes. Up to 40.5 m (133 ft) in Miyako, Iwate, Tōhoku Landslides Yes Foreshocks 7 Aftershocks 1,235 Casualties 15,844 deaths,[4][5] 5,893 injured,[4][5] 3,394 people missing[4][5] The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku (東北地方太平洋沖地震, Tōhoku-chihō Taiheiyō Oki Jishin?
This is an analysis on what is known to be the largest earthquake and biggest tsunami ever to hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The earthquake and tsunami Japans coast lies in ruins after the earthquake hit followed by the tsunami picking up everything in its path like cars, houses, and warehouses. Seismometers, strain gages, and title gages records the disaster. P-waves travel at four miles a second and within seconds warnings flash across the country. The S-waves shake the ground making earthquakes so damaging and the reactor core is shut down (Kerger, 2011.
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.
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. They have a limited areal extent and usually have a low predictability. However improvements in science and technology are slowly increasing the predictability of the occurrence of these events but the impact it will have is more difficult to determine. Other examples of catastrophic hazards include tsunamis and volcanoes. Chronic hazards are less newsworthy than catastrophic hazards but because their effects are cumulative over time but the effect can be just as, if not more severe.