Tectonic Plates Case Studies

Question 1

Port au Prince Earthquake 2010

Answer 1

-Haiti (developing)
-Conservative boundary
-7mW
-13km focal depth
-230,000 deaths
-countless injuries including 4000 amputees
-at least 6,900 secondary deaths due to cholera outbreak (UN peacekeepers accused of spreading disease) infecting more than 6% of population over two years
-lack of clean water=cholera spread faster
-70% of buildings=collapsed
-8 billion dollars in losses
-previously there had been a massive increase in population due to rural-urban migration= poorly constructed squatter settlements
-Seven years later 2.5 million are still in need of humanitarian aid
-55,000 still living in makeshift camps

Question 2

Sichuan Earthquake 2008

Answer 2

-China (emerging)
-convergent (collision) boundary
-8mW
-10km focal depth
-69,000 deaths
-370,000 injured
-11,000 school children died
-21 million buildings damaged
-at least 5 million homeless
-more than 140 billion dollars in losses
-1/3 of deaths= landslides
-previously= local government corruption meant that Chinas strict building codes were not enforced in Sichuan

Question 3

Canterbury Earthquake 2010

Answer 3

-New Zealand (developed)
-convergent
-7.1mW
-10km focal depth
-no deaths
-100 injured
- liquefaction= widespread damage to buildings
- 6.3mW aftershocks= killed 185
-40 billion dollars in losses

Question 4

Tohoku Tsunami 2011

Answer 4

-Japan (developed)
-convergent (destructive) megathrust subduction zone
-9 mW
-18,000 deaths
-6,000 injured
-ground subsidence caused by earthquake= allowed tsunami to overtop existing defences (tsunami walls)
-46,000 buildings destroyed
-soil liquefaction contributed to this damage= more than a thousand buildings around Tokyo
-radioactive contamination due to damage to Fukushima nuclear plant
-huge infrastructure damage (water and electricity supply)
-responded fast= within 30minutes aircraft had identified Hakozaki as being completely cut off and within 2 days all debris was cleared so emergency goods could be delivered
-already had Disaster Prevention Day 1st September=high education surrounding hazards

Question 5

Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004

Answer 5

-Developing countries
-9.1mW
-230,000 deaths
-125,000 injured
-1.7 million displaced over 7 countries
-15 billion dollars in losses

Question 6

Soufriere Hills Volcanic Eruption 1995-1997

Answer 6

-Montserrat (developing)
-convergent (destructive)
-strato volcano= andesitic magma
-VEI=3
-19 deaths
-2/3 population evacuated (most permanently)
-2/3 of country burled by pyroclastic flow including the capital (now abandoned)
-still largely dependent on aid from the UK

Question 7

Eyjafallajokull Volcanic eruption 2010

Answer 7

-Iceland (developed)
- divergent (constructive)
-strato volcano= basaltic lava
-VEI=4
-no injuries nor deaths
-major disruption to European and translantic air travel= affecting 10million passengers
-1.7 billion in losses (closure of air space)
-ice melt on volcano caused flash flooding (johulaups)

Question 8

Arte Ale Volcano

Answer 8

-Ethiopia (developing)

Question 9

Mount Pinatubo 1991

Answer 9

-active strato volcano
-dormant for 500 years before
-cataclysmic eruption
VEI=6
eruption released ash and pyroclasts 30km into air
reduced solar radiation by 10%= 0.5 degree fall in global temp
death toll= 847
thousands evacuated
heavy rains following= lahars that displaced thousands of people
costs estimated at $211 million

Question 10

Prediction and Forecasting

Answer 10

Montserrat:
-seismograph around volcano=measure earthquake strength and depth
-tiltmeters put in place= show signs of swelling or deflating as magma rose within volcano
-COSPEC used to measure gas emissions particularly sulfur dioxide= indicates magma type and movement
-pH of rainwater was monitored as it gives an indication of magmatic gas content
-geologist regularly flew in to survey the volcano

Japan:
-seismographs to detect P and S waves
-once two monitors have picked up the first P waves of a 5mW earthquake alerts are automatically sent to phones and television broadcasts (gives up to 1 min to shield/evacuate)
-bullet trains (fastest in wolrd) halted successfully in Tokyo within 20s of 2011 earthquake + can run for a short time on its own to get to a safer location e.g. i on a bridge

Question 11

Recent: Turkey Syria Earthquake 2023

Answer 11

-Turkey developed, Syria developing
-transform plate boundary
-7.8mW
-Death toll= turkey 50,000 and 9,000 in Syria
-160,000 buildings collapsed
-nearly all of turkey is prone to seismic risk, with two significant fault lines
-turkey is one of the worlds most active earthquake zones= as three tectonic plates interact