Essay about Earthquake as a Natural Disaster

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About 50,000 earthquakes are big enough, to occur around the world naturally. Of these, around 100 are big enough to inflict serious harm if their centers are located close to housing areas. Averagely, some very large earthquakes occur once a year. Over the years, it caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and an untold amount of economic loss. Earthquakes have numerous impacts such as seismic changes, damage to buildings created by human beings, and effects on humans and animals. Much of these impacts are on stable land, but since most earthquake focuses actually lie below the seabed, extreme effects on the ocean's margins are also seen. An earthquake represents a rapid displacement on the earth's crust. It's called a shake, trembling, or trembling. Earthquakes are so small as not to make those violent enough to throw people around and ruin towns, in general, seem as large as possible. The seismic or volcanic behavior in a region concerns the magnitude, form, and scale of earthquakes over time.

Earthquake

An earthquake is a spontaneous movement on the earth's crust across the earth's rocks from moving seismic waves. It's sometimes referred to as trembling, shaking, or trembling. The scale of an earthquake can change, and mild earthquakes may not be felt often, but strong earthquakes may kill entire towns and villages. It all depends on the magnitude, form, and scale of a time-long earthquake. It is calculated on the Richter scale. A seismometer can recognize the vibrations caused by an earthquake, and trace these vibrations on a seismograph. The Richter scale also evaluated an earthquake's intensity or extent. If an earthquake on the Richter scale was around 7 or 8, it may be catastrophic (GOYAL, 2020). Earthquakes and abrupt ground shakes are produced by seismic waves passing across the rocks of the earth. Seismic waves come when unexpectedly some energy is released in the crust of the earth, often when masses of rock suddenly struggle and slip against each other. Earthquakes most often occur near geological culpabilities, small areas in which rock weights pass together. On the peripheries of the immense tectonic plates which make the earth's crust, the world's main fault lines are found.

Earthquake Causes

Earthquakes happen as the earth's surface is suddenly moving. South lateral or longitudinal motions on the earth's crusts induce earthquakes. Or if tectonic plates ride over each other and enable building mountains to come together. Due to the borders of moving plates, the greatest failures occur on the surface of the earth. It's more serious when there's a relative movement between plates. The Circum-Pacific Belt is a large earthquake that affects many of the Pacific Ocean's inhabited coastal regions, such as New Zealand, New Guinea, Japan, etc. In earthquakes from those whose epicenters are in this belt, the energy is measured at about 80 percent. The rocks slip and emit large quantities of energy, and is called an earthquake, as the friction overcomes mechanical tension. As the displacement between the plates occurs, the tension increases and tends to cause the trapped part of the error to slide over and unleash the accumulated energy as waves of shock (GOYAL, 2020). Earthquake damage occurs from floods, earthquakes, soil ruptures, tsunamis, and liquefactions. The most significant secondary consequence is earthquake disruption caused by explosions.

Tectonic

The southern release of energy is caused by earthquakes in a tiny area of the earth's rocks. Elastic pressure, gravity, chemical reactions, and even large body movement can all generate energy. The most significant cause of all these is the release of elastic strain, this source of energy is the only type that can be saved in enough amounts on the earth to make serious interruptions. Tectonic earthquakes are considered earthquakes correlated with this kind of energy release (Grützner, 2012).

The elastic rebound theory of American geologist Harry Reid, following the breakup of the San Andreas Fault in 1906, which produced a great earthquake in San Francisco, explains tectonic earthquakes. As per the theory, a tectonic earthquake is caused by the deposition of strains in rock masses, which surpass the strength of rocks, resulting in an unexpected fracture. These fractures spread quickly through the soil, generally in the same direction, and spread over a local region of failure often for several kilometers. For example, in 1906, a 430 km long plane ran through the San Andreas Fault. The earth was horizontally shifted from this line up to 6 meters (20 feet). The rock volumes are flung in opposing directions when a failure goes along or up the fault, and therefore sprinkle back to a spot where the tension is reduced. At some point, this motion cannot take place immediately, but in erratic steps; these abrupt slow-downs and restarts give birth to seismic waves. The simulation of earthquake origins now involves both physically and mathematically certain irregular features of fault rupture. Fault ruggednesses are called asperities and areas that are described as fault obstacles when rupture delays or stops. Fault rupture begins at the point of the earthquake, which is nearly 5-15 km below the surface in many instances. In either or both ways, the rupture spreads across the fault plane before the barrier is stopped or slows down. Often the fault breach re-emerges at the other edge, rather than stopping at the fence; some crack the barrier and it goes on (Bolt, 2021).

Volcanism

A volcanic eruption of a different type of earthquake is often considered an earthquake. However, also in these situations, probably, a rapid slip of rock masses next to the volcano and consequential release of the elastic stress energy arise from disruption. But, because of the heat produced by the magma flowing through reservoirs below the volcano or the release of gases under pressure, the accumulated energy may in part have a hydrodynamic source. The geographic spread of the volcanic, in particular on the Circum-Pacific Ribbon and all along the oceanic ridges, correlates clearly to major earthquakes. Even so, volcanic winds usually are several hundred kilometers from major shallow earthquakes, and a large number of causes of earthquakes do not occur close to active volcanoes. And if an earthquake focuses specifically on buildings characterized by volcanic vents, there would certainly not be an obvious causal link between the two events (Bolt, 2021).

Artificial Induction

Earthquakes are also triggered by human action, including the injection of deep well fluid, the eruption of massive nuclear underground explosions, mining digestion, and large storage tanks. Elimination of rock causes improvements in the strain of tunnels in the case of deep mining. Slip into the new cavities on neighboring, pre-existing faults or external rocks will happen. For fluid injection, slip is supposed to be caused by premature release of the elastic pressure when fault surfaces are liquid-lubricated, as is the case for tectonic earthquakes. Large nuclear blasts under the ground have already created slips for already tense faults around the test equipment (Bolt, 2021).

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Reservoir Induction

The filling of major reservoirs is one of the most critical of the numerous earthquake-causing activities listed above. More than 20 major cases of local seismicity have been reported after water imposition from the high barrier. The fact that no evidence exists to enable a comparison of earthquakes before and after the reservoir has been filled cannot always be substantiated. The most widely accepted hypothesis for the event of an earthquake suggests that rocks surrounding the reservoir are already stressed to the point of close defects from regional tectonic forces. A pressure disturbance is added to the reservoir water, which causes a fault breakage. The pressure effect is maybe exacerbated by the fact that, due to increased water-porous pressure, the rocks around the fault have less weight. These causes, however, have not caused earthquakes significant enough to pose a challenge to the overflowing of most large reservoirs (Bolt, 2021).

Earthquake Impacts

There are terrible and destructive impacts of an earthquake. Various buildings, schools, hospitals, and a whole city could have collapsed. Many are assassinated and wounded. Several people are losing their belongings and wealth. It affects not only human health but also weakens mental (GOYAL, 2020). Earthquake impacts on the landscape include surface defects, tectonic elevation and subsiding, tsunamis, soil liquefaction, soil resonance, terrestrial landslides, etc.

Surface Phenomenon

Earthquakes are also responsible for significant geomorphologic shifts, including earthquakes – horizontal or vertical – of geological fault traces; rising, falling and tilting soil surface; changes in the distribution of soil; sandy soil fluidity; landslides and drifting. Geodetic steps which are routinely carried out in many countries which are heavily impacted by earthquakes help to examine topographical changes. Earthquakes can cause substantial damage to houses, bridges, pipelines, roads, reservoirs as well as other infrastructure (Bolt, 2021). The type and degree of damage are linked to the strength of the soil movement and the behavior of the soil. The consequences of a serious earthquake are typically complicated and depend on the topography and condition of superficial materials in its most heavily affected region of the meizoseismic zone. Sweet alluvium and unconsolidated sediments are also more extreme than hard rock. The predominant damage was caused by seismic waves that pass along the surface at distances of over 100 km from its source. Low depths of a few hundred meters are mostly little damaged in mines, while the surface of the soil is significantly affected. The recordings of distinctive noises and light are often associated with earthquakes. The sounds are usually narrow, and the sound of an underground train passing past a station is equal. This is associated with the propagation through the earth of high-frequency seismic waves. Light flashes, streamers, and light balls were often recorded during earthquakes in the night sky (Bolt, 2021). The electrical induction in the air along the earthquake source is responsible for these lights. Landslides are attributed both to overt destruction and to the steady shaking of unstable pathways. They can quickly wreck houses along the way, block roads and railways, or take hilltops when you topple. Often, they will also damage rivers. Earthquakes, particularly in areas with water-sick soil, can cause landslides and mudslides. Landslides will lead to rocks and debris colliding with human beings, plants, wildlife, buildings, and vehicles. They can also obstruct highways and interrupt public transport routes.

Tsunami

A rapid dislocation of seabed onto a seabed is the common cause of a tsunami, which causes a vast body of water to raise or decrease quickly. This deformation could be the cause of an earthquake, or it could be an underwater slip caused by an earthquake. Tsunamis seem to be a collection of water waves that can migrate wide distances in a brief time as the sea floor moves upwards in an earthquake (Anderson, 1997). The tsunamis are a surge of waves, with a slight withdrawal, a very sudden wave moving in, and a further withdrawal followed by, etc. When a wave arrives, the best thing to do is run as fast as possible up the land from the beach. A tsunami, a very long wave actually exists, is triggered by a quake produced inside the Pacific Ocean. Big tsunamis to the surface of the ocean floor are harmful to human health, property, and infrastructure. Over the coast, there are long-term impacts of tsunami damage.

Liquefaction

Liquefaction does not represent a type of ground collapse; it is indeed a physical mechanism that can lead to soil failure during certain earthquakes. The liquefaction causes temporary loss of strength and behavior of clay-free soil repositories, mostly sands and silts, as viscous fluids and not like solids. Liquidation occurs on the saturated granular floor layer as seismic scar waves cross, deform the granular composition, and bring about a collapse of some of the void spaces. Disturbance to soil generated by such collapses causes the soil shaking load to be transferred to the pore water from grain to seed contacts in the soils. The earthquake shaking will make loose soil a liquid during an earthquake (Anderson, 1997). Fluidity can weaken houses, bridges, pipes, and roads' pillars and supports, causing them to fall into the soil, crumble or dissolve. The liquor and subsidence of the land, in particular in unconsolidated soil, are important effects that also cause much damage. Liquor is when grains from sediments literally float in groundwater, allowing the soil to lose its strength. This transfer of load raises the pressure of the pore water, causing either drainage or a sudden rise of the pore water pressure if drainage is limited. The granular soil coating is more like a fluid than like a solid for a brief time as the pore-water pressure increases around the pressure of a column of soil. Deformations will quickly happen in this state. Liquefaction is limited to some geological and hydrological conditions, particularly where in the last 10,000 years sand and silts have been deposited and soil is less than 30 meters from the earth.

Fires

The second most frequent threat is earthquake destruction facts, which indicates fires from earthquakes. Earthquake fires begin as electricity and gas lines dislodge because of the shaking of the earth. Gas is freed as gas pipes are destroyed and a spark begins a firestorm. After earthquakes, fires are really a significant cause of damage. Ground breakdown and liquefaction will quickly break natural gas and water supplies, which contribute to and impede fire ignition attempts. Shaking also helps to launch fires by the knockdown of power poles, flame retards from storage boxes, and the throwing of hot coals from barbeques and stoves (Anderson, 1997).

Consequences

Earthquakes have countless consequences, along with earthquakes, damage to human buildings, and human and animal effects. Much of these impacts are on stable soil, but because the emphasis of most earthquakes is below sea level, severe marginal effects are also seen. Earthquakes generally appear near geological guilt, small areas where rock weights go together. The major fault lines of the world are discovered on the peripheries of the huge tectonic plates that give the earth a crust. Earthquakes occur as the earth's surface moves abruptly. The earth's crusts cause earthquakes with southern lateral or longitudinal movements. Because of shifting plate boundaries, the most severe failures happen on the earth's surface. When the relative movement between plates occurs, this is more severe. Earthquakes, involving deep, fluid injections, eruptions of huge nuclear explosions in the underground, mining digests, and huge storage tanks, are also caused by human action. The removal of rock in the case of deep mining results in reductions in the tension of tunnels. Slip into nearby cavities, pre-existing flaws, or external rocks. The land-use effects include surface defects, tectonic lifting, tsunamis, land liquefaction, soil resonance, terrestrial slides, etc. Earthquakes affect the landscape. Many houses, clinics, schools, etc. are lost. Many are murdered and injured. Many lose their property and fortune. It impacts the physical and mental health of individuals.

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Essay about Earthquake as a Natural Disaster. (2023, November 21). Edubirdie. Retrieved April 29, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-about-earthquake-as-a-natural-disaster/
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Essay about Earthquake as a Natural Disaster [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2023 Nov 21 [cited 2024 Apr 29]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-about-earthquake-as-a-natural-disaster/
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