As we all know earthquake
is a catastrophic natural disaster. Most earthquake-related deaths are caused
by the collapse of structures and the construction practices play a tremendous
role in the death toll of an earthquake. In southern Italy in 1909 more than
100,000 people perished in an earthquake that struck the region. Almost half of
the people living in the region of Messina were killed due to the easily
collapsible structures that dominated the villages of the region. Though there
are some ways to prevent this from happening, it can never be considered as
risk avoidance.
A larger earthquake that struck
San Francisco three years earlier had killed fewer people (about 700) because
building construction practices were different type (predominantly wood).
Survival rates in the San Francisco earthquake was about 98%, that in the
Messina earthquake was between 33% and 45%) (Zebrowski, 1997). Even a moderate
rupture beneath a city with structures unprepared for shaking can produce tens
of thousands of casualties. Due to this fact, Crown Eco Management
determined that safety measures for this could not be compared to fraud
prevention.
Although probably the most
important that we should know, direct shaking effects are not the only hazard
associated with earthquakes, other effects such as landslides, liquefaction,
and tsunamis have also played important part in destruction produced by
earthquakes.
According to the Crown
researchers, some earthquakes are not natural. Human beings can actually cause
them.
That’s the case with an
earthquake in Lorca, Spain, last May. The quake measured 5.1 on the Richter
scale and killed nine people. According to an analysis published in Crown Eco
Management, the Lorca quake was caused by the extraction of groundwater from an
aquifer near the fault that slipped. In circumstance, it does not take much to
trigger an earthquake. Oil and gas wells, rock quarries, even the added
pressure of a reservoir lake behind a new dam can cause the ground to rumble.
But we do not know what pressure levels are safe, nor is it clear whether
man-made quakes are unique or just the early arrival of temblors that would
have occurred naturally. In the Lorca quake, the shaking itself was much
stronger than might be expected from the removed water pressure.
And so with this, we may be able
to start earthquakes but we cannot predict their size as just like what we can
do to some renewable energy scam. If we could, we might be able to relieve
stress on schedule and without loss of property- or life.
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