Ricardo Perez Historical Processes of Puerto Rico San Fermin Earthquake of 1918 The geological position of Puerto Rico raises a concern for earthquakes in the modern day. The island is located very close to the junction of the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates. A combination of seismic and volcanic activity created the Caribbean islands as we know them today. All of the Caribbean islands, with the exception of Barbados, were created from the fierce volcanic activity of the millions of years ago during the Antillean Revolution. Violent movements of the plates in the Post-Glacial era created the Puerto Rican Trench, nearly 24,000 feet deep, which is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean.
The earthquake was particularly devastating because it had a shallow focus. The earthquake had a "strike-slip mechanism." The resulting surface rupture had an average horizontal displacement of about 1.5 meters on the Nojima fault. This fault which runs along the northwest shore of Awaji Island. DEATH TOLL The earthquake caused 5100 deaths, mainly in Kobe.
All these factors will change the impact of an earthquake. Both the Haiti and Canterbury earthquakes are easily compared as both magnitudes were around seven and also both earthquakes were very shallow, but most importantly both struck so close to major population centers. A major cause of loss of life in an earthquake is due to unsafe buildings. A countries level of economic development surely has a significant influence on this; in the Canterbury earthquake there was no deaths yet the Haiti earthquake caused a dramatic 230,000. New Zealand Learning from past earthquakes, New Zealand has implemented strict building codes.
The earthquake occurred in the backarc region of the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate. The earthquake shaking caused moderately severe damage, VIII on the Mercalli scale. The jolting movement of the seabed made the water rise and fall, which set off a terrifying tsunami. The fast-moving waves spread in all directions. They hit Okushiri less than four minutes later.
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.
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.
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.
So when the tectonic plates move. Plates move toward each other and collide which causes the earthquakes. Even poorly built buildings can stand the up and down movement caused by earthquakes. But it is the side to side movement that makes buildings collapse. Most buildings are not made so that they stay sanding when side to side movement is made.
The countries which were affected the most include Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Some of the other countries that were affected were Somalia, Malaysia, South Africa, Madagascar and Kenya. The hardest hit area was the Aceh Province of Sumatra located in Northern Indonesia, which was the closest area to the earthquake that started the whole disaster. *when did it occur* On the 26th of December, at 7.59 am local time, an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale is recorded off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Buildings started shaking in Bangkok which was around 780 miles away from the earthquake.
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.