Natural Disasters: Earthquakes And Natural Contributions

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NATURAL DISASTERS: EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

Introduction
Disaster is a sudden calamitous event that brings huge destruction, damage and loss to property and life. The damage varies depending on geographical location, earth’s surface, and climate. Disasters retard the development of a country, region or area. In this chapter, we shall discuss disasters, their types, impacts, and precautions to reduce the loss.

Types of Disasters
Disasters can occur because of environmental reasons, or can be human-induced. They can be of two types- Natural and Manmade. Natural disasters include drought, flood, cyclone, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, thunderstorm, hot or cold waves, and so on; whereas Manmade disasters include epidemic, forest fire, environmental pollution, road or train accident, riot, war, and so forth.
The two terms- hazard and disaster- are taken synonymous but there is …show more content…

It is the movement of earth’s surface which makes the earth vibrate and shakes backward and forward. It creates seismic waves that can be measured by seismometers. The waves can be of three types: Longitudinal waves, Transverse waves and Surface waves. It can be too weak to feel, or violent enough to destroy the whole area.
The intensity of earthquake is measured on magnitude scale which is known as richter magnitude scale. The earthquakes of less than three magnitude are considered weak whereas the earthquakes of seven or more magnitude are considered strong. However there is no limit of the intensity but the strongest earthquake of slightly over nine magnitude has been reported by now.
Strong earthquakes cause serious damage over a larger area. Intensity of shaking depends on depth. More the depth, more the damage. Earthquakes not only manifest on earth surface but also occur under the seabed. When epicenter of an earthquake is under sea, it can cause high

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