TOPIC : EARTHQUAKE
NAME(GROUP) : CHARLIE
GROUP
CLASS: 9TH “F”
SUBJECT : DISASTER
MANAGEMENT
Earthquakes
• Causes - tectonics and faults
• Magnitude - energy and intensity
• Earthquake geography
• Seismic hazards - shaking, etc.
• Recurrence - frequency and regularity
• Prediction?
• Mitigation and preparedness
Causes: accumulated strain
leads to fault rupture
- the elastic rebound model
North American tectonic regimes
(much simplified)
Styles of faulting
Causes: fault movement releases energy as
seismic waves radiating from rupture
Seismic waves
Seismic wave forms
S wave
P wave
L wave
(Rayleigh wave)
L wave
(Love wave)
The Richter scale
Steps:
1. Measure the interval (in seconds) between
the arrival of the first P and S waves.
2. Measure the amplitude of the largest S
waves.
3. Use nomogram to estimate distance from
earthquake (S-P interval) and magnitude
(join points on S-P interval scale and S
amplitude scale).
4. Use seismograms from at least three
geographic locations to locate epicentre
by triangulation.
The Richter scale 2
nomogram
1
Steps
Nomogram
Earthquake geography
Source: GSHAP, Switzerland
Seismic hazard: North & Central America
Seismic hazards
• Locating faults
• Estimating recurrence: history and
geology
• Measuring relative motions and crustal deformation
• Learning from analogies
• Assessing probabilities
Locating faults:
Seattle Fault (LIDAR image)
Prediction:
where will the Berkeley
next Oakland
earthquake in
the Bay Area San Francisco
occur?
San Jose
Santa Cruz
Lawrence
Livermore
The Hayward
fault runs
through UC
Berkeley
campus UC Berkeley
(US $1 billion
seismic upgrade
program)
Recurrence - historical records
San Francisco
City Hall, 1906
Learning from analogues
(Turkey - California)
Probabilities, yes!
but prediction, no!
• 1996 - Earthquake prediction group of Japanese
Seismological Survey voluntarily disbands (after
Kobe)
• 2000 - British researcher argues that prediction of
main shock impossible at present; immediate goal
should be prediction of aftershock location and
magnitude
Building collapse as a result of soil liquefaction,
Niigata, Japan, 1964
Liquefaction and the urban fire hazard:
San Francisco, 1906
2-6 m of lateral City lost 90% of water
displacement in old marsh supply; fires raged out
soils -> 300 breaks in of control
water lines
Photos: Archives, Museum of San Francisco
Ground motion, structural damage and basin
morphology: Mexico City, 1985
Damage
heavy light heavy
body\surface surface/body
ridge
basin basin
periodic random periodic
<< << wall collapse, Pakistan, 2005
Complete collapse of multi-storey
apartment, Pakistan, 2005 >>>>
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
<<<< pancaking of ‘soft-storey’
buildings near Algiers (May, 2003);
Bridge collapse
Loma Prieta earthquake, CA (1989)
Preparedness: Modifying the building code in the
western US
1969 1976 1988 1996
UBC = Uniform Building Code
Cascadia: megaearthquakes at the
plate boundary
Mw = 9.2?
