Geomorphic Hazards research assignment
2010 Haiti Earthquake and landslide
By: Yashas Narayan
Teacher: Ms Bilton
Due Date: Monday 11th September 2017 Week 9, Term 3
Subject: Geography
Task description: Geomorphic Hazards
2010 Haiti earthquake and landslide
What is an earthquake?
An earthquake would be classified as a sudden ferocious shaking of the ground, typically causing great obliteration because of manoeuvre within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.
What is a landslide?
A landslide would be tabulated as a disintegrate mass of earth or rock to configurate a mountain, cliff or a summit.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake
The geomorphic hazard that I have researched is an earthquake and
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prodigious earthquakes frequently befell on these plate barriers.
The Caribbean plate had been steadily moving about a quarter of an inch per year. But the two plates don 't directly drift past one another. Struggle builds up along inaccuracy at the plate borderlines until it 's emancipated in a sudden burst of exuberance.
The image below shows orange dotted lines representing fault lines which led to the earthquake.
This image below shows which direction the North American plates and the Caribbean plates are moving
Impacts of the disaster
Social impacts of the earthquake (consequences of the earthquake)
• 3 million people affected.
• Over 220,000 deaths.
• 300,000 injured.
• 1.3 million were made homeless after the earthquake.
Economical impacts of the earthquake (effects on money and jobs)
• More than 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed.
• Many businesses destroyed.
• Damage made to the main clothing industry.
• Several airports damaged.
• 1 in 5 people lost their jobs.
Environmental affects
• At least 25 aftershocks had occurred by January 24th measuring 4.5 on the righter scale.
The immense Toll
• Around close to 220,000-316,000 people died during the earthquake
• About 300,000 people were injured
• 1.5 million people initially displaced
• 55,107 displaced people remain as of September 2016
Strategies used to manage the geomorphic hazard
There were many strategies used to manage the hazard including SMS broadcasts, Mission 4636,
One of the biggest plates in California is the pacific plate, which is moving in a northwest direction while another one of California’s plates, the north American plate, is moving towards the southwest. The movement from the north American plates is creating compressional forces along the eastern section
The earthquake occurred on the 12th of January 2010, a slip along the conservative boundary situated along Haiti caused a significant earthquake with subsequent damaging aftershocks. As can be seen in figure 1 the shaking intensity was strongest at the epicentre of the
There are three distinct types of plate boundaries existing, which are supported by geological observation, geophysical data, and theoretical considerations. Their names and categories are based on if adjacent plates move apart from each other (divergent plate margins), toward one another (convergent plate margins), or slip past one another in a direction parallel to their common boundary (transform plate margins) (Pitman, W.C., 2007).
On January 12th, 2010, the small country of Haiti was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the city of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015). The 30-second disaster was just the beginning of a collection of aftershocks that then struck the country relentlessly for days (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015). Many areas were reduced to rubble leaving approximately one million Haitians homeless and 350 000 dead and another 300 000 injured (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015). The ill-prepared country was sitting on two tectonic plates- the Caribbean and the North American, where there was slippage resulting in the earthquake (KS3 Bitesize Geography). Following the environmental catastrophe, the international community responded, and a relief effort began (Haiti earthquake of 2010, 2015).
Tiny dots of white against the plant-covered landscape (red in this image) are possible landslides, a common occurrence in mountainous terrain after large earthquakes. The Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone runs along the two linear valleys at the top of the imageThe magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake occurred inland,
The tectonic setting for the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was in the outermost shell of earth consisting of rigid plates that have been moving for hundreds of millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is a zone of faults, the principal one being the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the San Andreas and associated faults. The San Andreas fault is a transform plate boundary, accommodating horizontal relative motions (usgs.gov).
Next, geo-process is earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused when two transform plates are pushing past each other until one of the plates slip causing sudden movement under the surface. The sudden movement causes shaking on the earth above the fault. The shaking creates buildings to fall and for cracks to appear on the surface. “The quake swallowed roads, twisted railway lines and left towns and cities
Earthquakes are caused when two blocks of earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where the two blocks slip is called the fault. The earthquake starts below the earth’s surface at the hypocenter, and the location above the hypocenter is called the epicenter. Earthquakes can have foreshocks which is a smaller earthquake that happens before the larger quake. Earthquake can also
Plate tectonics move land masses around, and occasionally, interactions between different plates causes new land to form, and can even join two separate continents together, changing ocean currents and causing climate change. This is evident in the collision of the North and South American continents, which created the Isthmus of Panama, and separated the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Approximately 15 million years ago, the North and South American continent was cut off from each other by a seaway about 200 km wide. Over time, the South American plate collided with the Caribbean and Cocos plate, and gradually closed the exchange of the Caribbean and Pacific waters 3-4 million years ago. This resulted in several consequences.
There are many dangers to an earthquake. Earthquakes can cause damage to cities and many people end up injured or dead. The shaking of the ground can cause mudslides and landslides.Earthquakes can also cause terrible tsunamis.Earthquakes can occur on convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries. They can also can occur on subduction zones. In this case, the earthquake occurred on a subduction zone. Subduction is the process of which the denser plate sinks under the less dense
Shifts along the Eurasian and North American on the convergent boundary were thought to be the cause of the earthquake.
Haiti, Japan, Taiwan...what do they all have in common? All 3 have had unexpected major earthquakes strike them and demolish there land. But what is an earthquake? An earthquake is the movement of earth’s tectonic plates. They happen because a mass energy causes the constantly moving tectonic plates to pass one another in either a transform, convergent or divergent movement, after a long period of time pushing against each other. They usually occur in cities located on the border of the tectonic plates like California, British Columbia (west coast) and Japan. Depending on the intensity of the earthquake, it has the potential to cause a lot of destruction and hurt many civilians. It can degrade community to a point where it would take years to recover. However much destruction has been caused, there are precautions that could be taken before hand to reduce the damage. This report will be comparing 3 major recent earthquakes from Haiti, Japan and Taiwan and how each country is doing post-earthquake.
Earthquakes are caused when rock at an underground fault breaks. This release of energy causes seismic waves (Endsley). There are P waves, S waves, and surface waves (Hogan). This is the main cause of earthquakes, though there has been a few, rare occurrences
Scientist are struggling to come up with a widely accepted model that will explain the role of non-vertical strike-slip fault segments, crustal movement and deformation within Pacific –North American plate boundary. Multiple methods of analysis are being used; some of which are described below.
Most of the worst earthquakes are associated with changes in the shape of the Earth's outermost shell, particularly the crust. These so called tectonic earthquakes are generated by the rapid release of strain energy that is stored within the rocks of the crust, which on continents is about 22 miles thick. A small proportion of earthquakes are associated with human activity. Dynamite or atomic explosions, for example, can sometimes cause mild quakes. The injection of liquid wastes deep into the Earth and the pressures