Earthquakes: One Of The Most Destructive Natural Disasters

1: Introduction

Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural disasters. They can cause many other natural disasters for example, tsunamis, avalanches or volcanic eruptions. Earthquakes occur when one tectonic plate collides with another.

There are 15 main different tectonic plates spread around the globe. Earthquakes can be recorded with seismometers. The magnitude of Richter is the most common scale. Earthquakes are movements of the Earth caused by the release of stress accumulated by geologic faults or by volcanic activity. In the last years, many scientists think that drilling for oil and gas (fracking) causes earthquakes too. There are three different types of earthquakes that will be defined in this discussion.

2: Discussion

Earthquakes:

The magnitude is used to quantify the

Volcanoes:

When violent volcanic eruptions happen, impulsive disturbances are susceptible of generating an Earthquake or a Tsunami. Tsunamis generated by Volcanoes are infrequently.

Meteorite impact:

Asteroids and meteors colliding with earth are really rare but the “scientists realize that if these celestial bodies should strike the ocean, a large volume of water would undoubtedly be displaced to cause a tsunami.” Meteor impact is the less common factor that could generate a tsunami. Tsunami generated by meteoric impacts is very rare.

Landslides:

Icefalls, rock falls and underwater slumps or landslides could move water that could cause a tsunami. It is rather rare that a landslide cause a tsunami.

Earthquakes:

Tectonically movements of plates that generate tsunami can create a fault that could cause a Tsunami. Earthquakes are the most common generator of tsunamis.

The tallest tsunami ever recorded was 1,720 feet tall, which is approximately the height of one tower of the World Trade Center. This occurred in 1958 when a landslide fell into a fjord in Alaska.

Volcanic