...Earthquake in Japan The name of the article I choose is Quake Moved Japan Coast 8 fee, Shifted Earth’s axis by Kevin Voigt, CNN, March 11th, 2011. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-12/world/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth_1_tsunami-usgs-geophysicist-quake?_s=PM:WORLD This article talks about the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan last Friday March 11th, 2011. The quake started a massive tsunami that also hit the country of Japan and sent 50 other territories into alert for the massive waves. Japan’s main island was moved 8 feet and the earth’s axis was also shifted 4 inches. “At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass” said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).” Thirty foot walls of water struck Japan causing massive amounts of damage. Boats, cars and people’s homes were tossed around like feathers. This article also reports that some waves reached 6 miles inland. “The quake was the most powerful to hit the island nation in recorded history.” There were also move than 160 aftershocks in the first day of the initial earthquake. The earth’s crust exploded in an area around 250 miles and 100 miles long. The titanic plates moved more than 18 meters. This earthquake has killed thousands of people and made thousands more homeless...
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...Earthquake in Japan The name of the article I choose is Quake Moved Japan Coast 8 fee, Shifted Earth’s axis by Kevin Voigt, CNN, March 11th, 2011. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-12/world/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth_1_tsunami-usgs-geophysicist-quake?_s=PM:WORLD This article talks about the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan last Friday March 11th, 2011. The quake started a massive tsunami that also hit the country of Japan and sent 50 other territories into alert for the massive waves. Japan’s main island was moved 8 feet and the earth’s axis was also shifted 4 inches. “At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass” said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).” Thirty foot walls of water struck Japan causing massive amounts of damage. Boats, cars and people’s homes were tossed around like feathers. This article also reports that some waves reached 6 miles inland. “The quake was the most powerful to hit the island nation in recorded history.” There were also move than 160 aftershocks in the first day of the initial earthquake. The earth’s crust exploded in an area around 250 miles and 100 miles long. The titanic plates moved more than 18 meters. This earthquake has killed thousands of people and made thousands more homeless...
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...Psychological impacts of Japan earthquake could linger for years The Japanese are beginning to pick up the pieces after Friday's earthquake -- but it could take much longer for their society to heal Alexandra Pope, staff writer March 13, 2011 — As victims of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami begin the long process of picking up the pieces, an expert on the country's culture and society says the psychological impacts of the disaster could be felt for generations. It could be years before the full extent of the earthquake's impacts are known The physical aftershocks of Friday's deadly magnitude 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami could continue to rattle northern Japan for months. But according to Dr. Mark Watson, an assistant professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal, the psychological impacts of the disaster could be felt for even longer. Watson, who has spent the past decade studying social and cultural issues in Japan, says earthquakes are part of life for the Japanese, but the sheer scale of this disaster will make it difficult to overcome. “This is a once in a thousand-year event, and the devastation that’s been seen in north Japan is absolutely horrific,” he says. “How people will cope with it is an interesting question, especially given that in the 20th century they had two major earthquakes.” After both the 1923 earthquake in Tokyo and the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan proved its resilience...
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...Lessons Learned A triple disaster occurred on March 11, 2011 in japan. On this date Japan suffered not only an earthquake but a resulting tsunami and nuclear disaster that caused extremely unsafe conditions for Japan’s citizens. On the day of March 11, 2011 an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 struck Tohoku with great aggression which lead to an enormous Tsunami that devastated large areas of japan. Not only did the earthquake cause massive destruction to the island, it also caused a nuclear disaster that we still don't realize the effects that it caused. As a result of this disaster, japan has learned some very valuable lessons. One lesson that japan learned is make use of cloud computing. After japan’s tsunami, most of their data stored on servers was destroyed due to water damage. From recent speculation japan decided to take advantage of cloud computing so that if another disaster were to occur they would still have access to their data from a different location in the world. Another lesson Japan learned was that natural disaster can be very overbearing and they should not be underestimated and should be taken with precautions, Sea walls are meant to decrease damage not fully protect you. If japan’s citizens knew this fact they could have taken further actions to protect themselves and their family and friends. In the future japan can learn from these mistakes and takes actions and precautions faster so that lives can be saved. Another lesson learned is that there...
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...extent can preparedness and planning mitigate the effects of earthquakes? Whittow in 1980 defines a hazard as a “perceived natural event which has the potential to threaten both life and property, and a disaster is the realisation of this hazard.” Earth hazards can therefore include all natural events including earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding and mass movement. Due to the very nature of these events “mitigating” (measures taken to reduce the impacts of a hazard beforehand) can be more successful for hazards such as volcanoes which are arguably more predicable than earthquakes and flash flooding. Despite the advances over the past few decades there is no “magic bullet” (Dr Charles Connor) in earth hazard prediction, and therefore mitigation – and the success remains very much dependent upon a number of factors including money available, and the number of vulnerable individuals. Firstly, earthquakes, which are caused by sudden movements of the earth’s crust which result in violent shaking, liquefaction, and in extreme cases tsunamis, can to an extent be prepared for and mitigated for, and this is where money is being channelled into. Preparation and planning involves the retrofitting of buildings to create “earthquake-resistant” societies, aseismic design features (including concrete and steel frames to provide stability), as well as planning exclusion zones and evacuation routes in the case of an earthquake. Earthquake prediction is very closely linked to preparedness as if an event...
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...Discuss the view that the impact of earthquakes depends primarily on human factors: Earthquakes are caused by movement of tectonic plates that covering the earth’s surface. They occur at all plate boundaries; destructive, constructive and conservative, but the most intense tend to occur at subduction zones and conservative faults, such as the San Andres Fault in California. Every seismic event will be unique, and there are many factors influencing the extent to which it will have an impact on the environment and the populace. In many situations, both physical factors, related to the nature of the event and the topography of the area, and human factors, linked to demography and land use, have an influence on the effects of a hazard. When evaluating the impacts of an earthquake, the demography of an area will almost certainly have a large influence. Clearly, a very densely populated area will be more likely to have a higher death toll or a wider radius of influence than an event occurring in a more sparsely populated area, due to the simple fact that there are more people in the same amount of space to be affected. However it is not just this statistical fact that leads to a more people being affected. In many LEDC’s, the highest population density occurs in slum areas and shanty towns. The people living in these areas are ill equipped to cope with the effects of an earthquake due to a combination of factors, mostly centred around the conditions in which they live. The same is true...
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...The Affects Natural Disasters have on Countries By: There are many natural disasters that occur throughout the earth in many countries. Some natural disasters are devastating killing the lives of men and the environment they live in. Other natural disasters are portrayed to be just a bad day created by Mother Nature to just pass by. Overall, the natural disasters that can be catastrophic to people on earth are hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. All three natural disasters occur in many countries. Hurricanes are common in the United State of America, earthquakes are common in Mexico, and tsunamis are common in Japan. These three countries have experienced the worst damage from these natural disasters. The countries had to watch their people die, find a way to recover physically and mentally, and suffer from billions of dollars in damages. These people practically lose everything and have to find a way to rebuild what was lost. In order to save lives and help reduce damage from natural disasters, mankind has come a long way in technology to predict the size and location of each natural disaster’s destruction. Technology is not the same as it was one hundred years ago. With the help from NASA and scientists all over the world, people are able to give out broadcasted warnings to millions of people of the natural disaster that’s about to hit. All in all, technology has saved many lives from natural disasters but mankind is still trying to find a way in reducing damage from...
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...“Earthquake Danger in the Midwest” Kaplan University SC300-13 July 1, 2011 The United States Geological Society (2011) states “The world’s earthquakes are not randomly distributed over the earth’s surface, and tend to be concentrated in narrow zones”. This statement seems to hold true when it comes to the distribution of earthquakes in the United States as they happen primarily in those narrow fault zones. These fault zones are located in Alaska (Prince William Sound), on our West Coast ( San Andreas Fault), on our East Coast (Rambo Fault Line) and in the Midwest (New Madrid Fault) which all lying on the North American Tectonic Plate, a massive irregularly shaped slab of solid rock which is approximately 8000 kilometers or almost 5000 miles wide (Trefil and Hazen, 2011). Tectonic plates are in constant motion as they interact along their margins to form mountain belts, earthquakes and volcanoes. Plate size can vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across; the Pacific and Antarctic Plates are among the largest. Living in Cincinnati, Ohio carries a relatively high risk of a major earthquake because it lies on the border of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) and the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone (WVSZ) which have the most active geological areas in the eastern United States. The smaller of the two areas is the Wabash Valley area which lies in the Southeastern part of Illinois and Southwestern part of Indiana and came...
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...PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF EARTHQUAKES Name Course Professor Date Earthquake Victims In March 11,2011 an earthquake shook Japan and its environs and the 9.0 magnitude earthquake unleashed a savage tsunami. In my findings, the earthquake was found to have rendered over 300,000 people homeless and 18,000 people also reported to have lost their lives mainly by drowning. About 6000 thousand individuals were injured and over 2400 people went missing. Psychological Impacts of Earthquakes Asian Disaster management Centre in Japan stated that there had been several earthquakes like the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January 1995, Mid Niigata Earthquake in October 2004 and the northeastern Japan earthquakes on 11th March, 2011. Policy on earthquake disasters in japan ensures prompt and elaborate dealing with earthquake disasters through early warnings and evacuations. Though the institution claimed success in the effectiveness of the policy, victims thought otherwise stating that the policy was ineffective since many lives were being lost. Another aspect criticized was the emergency response rebuked for being ill prepared in disaster management. The earthquake raised degrees of stress, depression and other mental illnesses, especially among those who lost their loved ones (Alexander,2005). A visit to therapy institutions dealing with disaster victims A visit to one specific therapy center that deals with kidney problems caused by the earthquake was significant at the moment...
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...'situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property or the environment.' The overall impact of earthquakes as a natural hazard varies greatly from one place and timeframe to another. As do the types of hazards, which are categorised into primary and secondary. Primary hazards are created by the direct seismic energy of an earthquake, this could include liquefaction, slope failure and tsunamis. These primary hazards can in turn trigger secondary hazards such as floods, fires, disease and destabilisation of infrastructure. A number of factors play a part in determining the severity of these hazards. For me the most influential factor is where the tectonic process occurs in relation to the levels of development of that area. MEDC's tend to cope better with the hazard of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions than LEDC's because they have all the necessary resources to survive the effects of these hazards at their disposal. Such as earthquake proof buildings that are designed to withstand earthquakes by using strong materials such as reinforced concrete or building special foundations that absorb an earthquakes energy e.g. the Bank Tower in Los Angeles, California. Construction laws in some earthquake-prone counties (e.g. Japan and the US) have become stricter in recent years – this means that newer buildings are more likely to be able to withstand earthquakes. Another technique in order to protect people from the effects of volcanoes is diverting lava away from settlements...
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...The 1960 Chile earthquake, also known as the 1960 Valdivia earthquake was the single most powerful earthquake ever recorded. The event took place in May 22 1960 during the afternoon (19:11 GMT). It lasted for 10 minutes during which it caused serious damage. The epicenter was located near a small town called Lumaco. The Valdivia earthquake was part of a series of quakes that battered Chile between May 21 and June 6. The catastrophic event had serious consequences. It triggered numerous natural disasters including landslides, tsunamis and seiches. Out of all of these the tsunamis caused the most damage as they reached far and wide. Affecting not only southern Chile but also Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, eastern New Zealand, southeast...
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...bones are turned into some sort of crystal. By the bone material being replaced by different minerals contained in the liquid of the sediments that buried it. This can also be done with shells, exoskeletons, and wood. 2) The slow movement of Earth’s plates can push and pull on the rock in the crust. These forces can crack the rock making a fault. A fault is a crack in the crust where slabs of rock can slip past one another. the largest faults are at the boundaries of the plates. Sometime part of one plate gets caught on the rough edge of another. Pressure builds and the plates can break, which causes an Earthquake to begin.Earthquakes happen in Japan. 3) Scientist measure Earthquakes by using a magnitude scale. A magnitude scale measures the amount of energy that comes from an earthquake. Earthquakes with a low magnitude release little energy and do little damage. Earthquakes can’t be predicted to any degree, it’s been tested several times, and it just never worked. 5) A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth. Eruptions occur from pressure being built up. Volcanoes are formed when hardened lava turns into solid rock, built up over time the rock forms into a mountain. Sometimes,...
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...components important to safety be designed to withstand the effects of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, tsunami, and seiches without loss of capability to perform their safety functions. Required Investigation for Vibratory Ground Motion. The purpose of the investigations required by this paragraph is to obtain information needed to describe the vibratory ground motion produced by the Safe Shutdown Earthquake. All of the steps in paragraphs (a)(5) through (a)(8) of this section need not be carried out if the Safe Shutdown Earthquake can be clearly established by investigations and determinations of a lesser scope. The investigations required by this paragraph provide an adequate basis for selection of an Operating Basis Earthquake (a) Determination of Design Basis for Vibratory Ground Motion. The design of each nuclear power plant shall take into account the potential effects of vibratory ground motion caused by earthquakes. The design basis for the maximum vibratory ground motion and the expected vibratory ground motion should be determined through evaluation of the seismology, geology, and the seismic and geologic history of the site and the surrounding region. The most severe earthquakes associated with tectonic structures or tectonic provinces in the region surrounding the site should be identified, considering those historically reported earthquakes that can be associated with these structures or provinces and other relevant factors. If...
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...81/ 1999 04/17/2012 What Causes Earthquakes It takes an earthquake to remind us that we walk on the crust of an unfinished planet. “Charles Kuralt” Earthquakes as the name implies are among the earth’s natural disasters. Earthquakes are mother nature. Earthquakes are the trembling or shaking caused by sudden release of energy which usually associated with faulting or breaking on rocks. The tectonic plates are always moving. The moving causes the earthquakes and the earthquakes causes disasters. According to my research, l discovered that there are four types of earthquakes and their causes. First, the explosion earthquakes are man-made earthquakes and occur due to nuclear or chemical explosions. Collapse earthquakes are minor earthquakes that are caused by the collapse of undermined areas like caves and mines. Also, the sudden eruption of volcanoes can cause earthquakes. These occur when lava under the earth’s crust is under pressure and as a result of the pressure the lava is thrown out causing earthquakes. Furthermore, the most common causes of earthquakes are the tectonic plates. These plates are always moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When these plates move, they grind against each other. The motion of these tectonic plates is what causes earthquakes. Examples would be the earthquakes that happened in Haiti in 2010 and in Japan in 2011. The consequences of earthquakes are many. Earthquakes destroy buildings, roads and other structures...
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...Earthquake From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the natural seismic phenomenon. For other uses, see Earthquake (disambiguation). [pic] An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, temblor or seismic activity) is the result of a sudden release of energy in theEarth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are measured with a seismometer; a device which also records is known as aseismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacing the ground. When a large earthquakeepicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event — whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans — that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus orhypocenter. The term epicenter refers to the point at...
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