earthquakes and tsunamis: science and society

Question 1

what is an earthquake?

Answer 1

dislocation of land, plates slides against each other, with energy spreading from focus, hypocentre, along the fault plane.

Question 2

how many detectable earthquakes are there each year?

Answer 2

500,000.

Question 3

what is the hypocentre?

Answer 3

originate of the earthquake, the focus underground.

Question 4

what is the epicentre?

Answer 4

directly above the focus on surface, it’s the area that starts the earthquake on the surface.

Question 5

what does the earthquake release?

Answer 5

seismic waves. wavefronts are like waves in the ground coming away from the earthquake hypocentre. the plates suddenly move and slip or fracture which causes the earthquake due to the release of energy.

Question 6

what earthquake happened in 2018?

Answer 6

Lombok

Question 7

how many people died in Lombok 2018?

Answer 7

563 people.

Question 8

what was the magnitude of Lombok 2018?

Answer 8

6.9

Question 9

where do earthquakes occur? (3)

Answer 9

ring of fire, in the pacific.
alpide- spain towards india. due to the movement of the tectonic crust.
mid-Atlantic ridge- in between north American plate and Eurasian plate and African plate.

Question 10

what percentage of earthquakes take place in ring of fire?

Answer 10

80%

Question 11

what is a normal fault?

Answer 11

2 blocks are pulling away from one another

Question 12

what is a reverse fault?

Answer 12

2 blocks of earth are moving towrds eachother (tsunami)

Question 13

what is a strike fault?

Answer 13

2 block move horizontally opposite each other.

Question 14

what happens when there is an normal and a reverse?

Answer 14

there is a change in height in one or both of the blocks of the earth.

Question 15

what is a large amplitude?

Answer 15

when the epicentre is very close, but the earthquake is far away and very large.

Question 16

what are the major hazards of earthquakes?

Answer 16

building collapses, loss of life due to buildings
landslides, liquefaction
fire- electical and gas lines
tsunamis, not tidal waves.

Question 17

when was the kathmandu disaster?

Answer 17

2015

Question 18

how many people died in Kathmandu?

Answer 18

8,600

Question 19

what magnitude was kathmandu?

Answer 19

8.1

Question 20

what was gorka magnitude?

Answer 20

7.8

Question 21

how many people died in Gorka?

Answer 21

8800

Question 22

what was the policy made in 1994?

Answer 22

development plans-national building code project in Nepal. earthquake resistant buildings.

Question 23

what happens in an underwater earthquake?

Answer 23

seismic sea waves that are caused by a major displacement of oceans. 2 mantles being forces together, oceanic plates move between the mantle. as it builds, distortion occurs between 2 plates. increasing the stress and enhances the bulge. when the release happens, pressure releases and lifts column of water above the fault.

Question 24

what earthquake happened in 2004?

Answer 24

Sumatra. 9.1, 225000 died.

Question 25

what is NOAA?

Answer 25

tsunami mitigation

Question 26

what are NOAA 3 approaches?

Answer 26

computer model to show worst-case scenaros
education
sophisticated detection sustem. DART system. Depp-ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis.

Question 27

what needs to be taken into consideration when deciding where to put a hospital in prone earthquake areas?

Answer 27

the income of the population nearby, the risk of earthquake hazards, the average distance between hospitals being more than 4 km, low shaking amplification, coastal areas, population density, liquefaction.

Question 28

what can be learned from L’Aquila’s article 2013?

Answer 28

scientific and politician stances are different. public needs to know that science is unknown, cannot predict the random movement of the earth. a more systematic approach was needed in risk communication.