We all know what to do if our clothes catch on fire: stop, drop, and roll. People living in tornado alley know where their safe spot is. Those who live in hurricane prone areas know what their evacuation plan is. Most families have a spot to meet at should their home catch on fire. All these safety measures are so ingrained in us even young children know them. But what if you live along a geological fault line? Do you have a plan if there is a major earthquake and then tsunami? In many cases the answer is no. Even the government and aid centers do not know how to properly get everyone to safety should a big earthquake hit. This is a major problem because the western coast of the United States is sitting on a fault line projected to release …show more content…
It is along this area where one tectonic plate, a large area of mantle and crust, is sliding under another plate. The problem is the top plate, holding all of the United States, is stuck on top of an oceanic plate trying to slide under it. This is a major issue because eventually the plates will slip in order to release the tension built up from the friction, but a bigger issue is no one was aware of its existence until very recently. Since no one knew it was there, people have built large settlements in the area that will be affected by the earthquake and tsunami when they happen. The director of FEMA who is in charge of the area being affected by this says, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast” (Schultz 2017). What he means by this is the entire coast would be gone. “FEMA projects that nearly thirteen thousand people will die in the Cascadia earthquake and tsunami. Another twenty-seven thousand will be injured, and the agency expects that it will need to provide shelter for a million displaced people, and food and water for another two and a half million” (Schultz 2017). Anything still standing afterwards and the surviving people who cannot leave would be without electricity, water, sewer, and health care for potentially years. Chris …show more content…
Many Native American tribes native to the area have stories about shaking ground, entire bays receding, and walls of water flooding out settlements. Scientists have used these stories to try and piece together an idea of what an earthquake will look like in the area. The other place they have gone to for documentation is Japan. “As the events of 2011 made clear, that coast is vulnerable to tsunamis, and the Japanese have kept track of them since at least 599 A.D.” (Schultz 2017). Since the Japanese were aware of the danger they are in they have been able to build safety structures to protect their people as much as possible from earthquakes and tsunamis. They have early warning systems capable of “automatically performing a variety of lifesaving functions: shutting down railways and power plants, opening elevators and firehouse doors, alerting hospitals to halt surgeries, and triggering alarms so that the general public can take cover” (Schultz 2017). The United States has not been aware of the threat, so we have none of these warning systems. Many buildings are not even built according to a seismic code, so they will simply crumble away. “FEMA calculates that, across the region, something on the order of a million buildings—more than three thousand of them schools—will collapse or be compromised in the earthquake. So will half of all highway
Tectonic plate movement can occur as close as two and up to 450 miles below the Earth’s surface. According to the Indiana Geological Survey, Indiana’s fault lines are further underground than those in California and Alaska, causing more minor quakes in the Midwest. However, Hoosiers should heed the recent earthquake as a warning for future quakes. Earthquakes can and do happen in Indiana, and almost anywhere else in the world. This is the one natural disaster that people cannot avoid no matter their location on Earth. And, being unprepared can have devastating results.
With the recent earthquakes in California, many are worried about the next earthquake that could be the potential “big” one that many geologists have been predicting for many years. The Cascadia subduction zone is also known as the CSZ megathrust fault. It is roughly 1000km long, a dipping fault that stretches from the Northern Vancouver Islands to Cape Mendocino, California. The zone passes through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and into California. The Cascadia region has experienced several types of earthquakes and it is very likely to experience similar quakes in the near future.
Imagine if a 9.0 earthquake struck the West Coast today, resulting in a giant tsunami. Coastal towns would be washed away or completely isolated, and electricity would be lost (FOX5). There would be $70 billion in damage and people would only have 15 minutest to evacuate or move to higher ground resulting in 10,000 deaths (FOX5). This sounds like a plot for a scary movie, but this is actually a reality. The Oregon Coast in located on a subduction zone, which makes it very susceptible to major earthquakes and tsunamis. With the Cascadia subduction zone running along he West Coast the threat of a major tsunami is very real.
Fire safety education is a crucial aspect of fire prevention. The general public needs to know how big of a threat fire is to them and how they can do things in their everyday lives to improve their safety, as well as preventing the threat of fire to begin with. The commission also realized that it was critically important that people know how to properly act once a fire has started. It is important that people have the knowledge to act quickly, safely, and effectively. When people don’t understand fire they can react in many negative ways such as panicking, not evacuating effectively, or by trying to fight a fire that they are not going to be able to extinguish. All these human reactions can decrease safety and end with tragic results. In the commission’s report they approximate that nearly 70 percent of all building fires were due to people acting carelessly because they did not understand the fire dangers that were present. The commission cited studies like one conducted in southeast Missouri. In the southeast Missouri community, a huge emphasis was put into public fire safety education because the fire death rate of the community was much higher than the national average. After increasing fire safety education in the community it was no surprise that the rate of deaths and injuries decreased
People who live in California are well aware of earthquakes that are frequently caused by the San Andreas Fault. However, not many are aware of the results of earthquakes that occur in the Pacific Ocean. Tsunamis have also been referred to in the past as seismic sea waves, but earthquakes aren’t the only cause of this phenomenon. Landslides, nuclear explosions, volcanic eruptions, and extraterrestrial impacts also have great water displacement results. What makes California such a potential area for this disaster is the seismic activity near its coastline.
TOHOKU, Japan, Friday, Mar. 11 -Yesterday, a 9.0 magnitude Earthquake struck the east of Tohoku, Japan. The epicentre of the earthquake was located approximately 72 km east of Tohoku (38.3 degrees North latitude and 142.4 degrees East longitude), or 130 km east of Sendai as shown by the X in figure 3 below. The focus of the earthquake was 24.4 km under the epicentre. The earthquake therefore caused a tsunami due to the displacing of water above the Pacific Plate. The earthquake and tsunami together have caused approximately 20,000 deaths, 6152 injuries and 2500 people missing. Approximately 90% of these deaths were by drowning. Approximately 140,000 people have been displaced and over 500,000 buildings and structures have been destroyed or damaged. The early warning system of Japan stopped many bullet trains, and many residents received texted warnings of the earthquake and tsunami on their mobile phones giving them time to evacuate. Figures 1 and 2 show exactly how destructive the tsunami caused by the Tohoku Earthquake was.
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
Beginning with Chile, it affected the cities of Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Rio Negro, Temuco, to name a few. It also affected the coast of California, New Zealand, Australia and Kamchatka. This affected the people of Chile plenty. It is believed that most of the loss of life were caused by the tsunami. The earthquake affected by speeding up Earth’s rotation. It shorted earth days by 1.26 millionths of a second. It also shifted Earth’s figure axis by about three inches. While all this happen in 1960, it was a cause of the 2010 earthquake that occur in Chile. This time it was a magnitude of 8.8 and like I mentioned, all this occur from the earthquake in 1960. However, the diving tectonic plate at the epicenter of the 8.8 magnitude, helped to temporarily redistribute mass on Earth. Unfortunately, as every Earthquake, there is damages. $550 million damage in southern Chile. Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from US$400 million to 800 million (or 2.9 to 5.8 billion in 2011 dollars, adjusted for inflation). Furthermore, besides the dollar amount in damages that was mentioned in this paper, the tsunamis played a factor on the
The first strong tidal wave hits already weakened cities, destroying almost everything in its path, but despite the immediate destruction, floods that can last for weeks after the initial wave continue to devastate infected areas. An example of tsunamis that affected the United States are the ones that hit after an earthquake called Good Friday Earthquake on March 27, 1964. Different tsunamis struck Alaska, British Columbia, California, and coastal Pacific Northwest towns, killing 121 people with waves up to 100 feet tall. Volcanoes are typically a mountain or hill having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapor, and gas erupt from the earth's crust. One example of a recent volcanic eruption of Kilauea, a volcano located on the Southeast coast of Hawaii, which erupted May 3rd. Document 2, called Lava Burns More Homes on Hawaii's Big Island as new Fissures Form, written by Amy Wang and posted on the Washington Post on May 7th, 2018, tells us about the eruption, going into great detail about the events and damage of the eruption; but it fails to indicate us about how human populations that were living in the area were
This matters because it shows how and where tsunamis form, in locations such as, Coastlines, Shorelines, and the Pacific Ocean. The text says most likely, meaning that there are other places where tsunamis may occur. Additionally, tsunamis are mostly caused by earthquakes, “Most tsunamis are triggered by underwater earthquakes” (Suborn, 61). This shows that not just the earthquake causes the tsunami to form. The plates underwater move, creating friction and soon burst with energy, causing giant waves to form.
Picture this you were just getting up or sleeping, on September, 19, 1985 at 7:17 AM and then the ground started to shake! “IT’S AN EARTHQUAKE”, you would yell and hopefully jump out of bed and go outside so you don't get smashed by pieces of your house. The cause of this earthquake was two plates that slide past each other. This giant earthquake killed thousands and destroyed thousands of buildings in Mexico city also this earthquake spread a long ways. There was a earthquake 4 months prior to the real earthquake so this could be an effect of this quake. As a result this caused a major natural disaster beyond belief. The effects of this earthquake was that it killed thousands, cost billions, and destroyed thousands of buildings.
An earthquake occurs abruptly and causes severs damage to people, property, landscape and more. A great mega-thrust earthquake, known as the Great Tohoku Earthquake has shaken Japan at 5:46:24 UTC on March 11, 2011. It caused a severe disaster, including tsunami and nuclear radiation exposure.. This mega-quake located at the latitude 38.297 degree North and longitude of 142.372 degree East, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan (USGS, 2013). An earthquake and tsunami waves caused widespread damage to many areas of Japan. People in Japan are still recovering from the damages.
Marriage is a human reality founded on mutual consent and reciprocal love. Its very nature is prepared towards the interests of the partners as well as for the birth and rearing of children. The purpose of marriage is the increase of the people of God and mutual help for the partners in loyalty and love. As a sacrament, marriage reflects the covenant between Christ and His Church and is the efficacious sign of this New Covenant. It is symbolized in marriage by the reciprocal and indissoluble commitment of the spouses. Sacramental marriage is more than an example of the New Covenant. It is also a means of accomplishing it. Like the Eucharist, marriage is ordered to the building up of the Body of Christ. The place of the Eucharist in a marriage relationship is made clear when marriage and the family are considered as the basic Christian community or a "little Church."
TOHOKU, Japan, Friday, Mar. 11 -Yesterday, a 9.0 magnitude Earthquake struck the east of Tohoku, Japan. The epicentre of the earthquake was located approximately 72 km east of Tohoku (38.3 degrees North latitude and 142.4 degrees East longitude), or 130 km east of Sendai as shown by the X in figure 3 below. The focus of the earthquake was 24.4 km under the epicentre. The earthquake therefore caused a tsunami due to the displacing of water above the Pacific Plate. The earthquake and tsunami together have caused approximately 20,000 deaths, 6152 injuries and 2500 people missing.
Of the four phases of emergency management, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, perhaps the place that individuals can make the biggest difference in their own state of resiliency and survival of a disaster is in the preparedness phase. Being prepared before a disaster strikes makes sense yet many people fail to take even simple, precautionary steps to reduce the consequences of destruction and mayhem produced by natural events such as earthquakes, volcanos and tornados (see Paton et al, 2001, Mileti and Peek, 2002; Tierney, 1993, Tierney et al, 2001).