For my current events paper, I chose to write about the earthquake that hit Mexico City, I selected an article from Houston public media news titled ”Mexico City Earthquake Update: All children accounted for” Mexico City suffered from two power earthquakes just 12 days apart. On September 7th, the first earthquake hit the capital, sending distress throughout the city , and breaking record as the most powerful earthquake to hit Mexico in a century. Then again on September the 19th Mexico suffered another earthquake which took place approximately 100 miles from Mexico City. Officials were finally able to report that there were no longer any missing children at a Mexico City school that had been severely damaged “We’ve done an accounting with school officials, and we are certain that all the children either died, unfortunately, are in the hospital or are safe at their homes,” (pt.3, Sarmiento 2017) “he said 19 children and six adults were killed in the school …show more content…
“Scientist say strong earthquakes can sometimes alter stresses nearby, leading to subsequent quakes.” (p.4, Stevens 2017) Natural disasters are based on many things, but I think the single most important is physical geography, or location. If you lived in the drier parts of california, then you would be more prone to wildfires. If you lived in alaska, then you would be more prone to avalanches. Unfortunately for those who lived in Mexico, where the North American and pacific plate meet and create transform plate boundary making it a prime location for earthquakes. Mexico is located on something scientists call a subduction zone plate boundary. “Subduction zones are the part of the earth where one slab of the crust is slowly sliding under another”(pt.6, Stevens 2017) in simpler terms when two plate boundaries meet at a subduction zone, earthquakes are like a ticking time
The 9th of February 1971 an earthquake occurred in the lower parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The San Fernando earthquake was measured to have a magnitude of around 6.5, which caused severe damage to buildings and major freeways in the Los Angeles area. Two huge health care buildings in San Fernando caused the majority of deaths when they collapsed at both sides. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the mountains and the most severe damages occurred in northern San Fernando Valley. However, the event impacted other densely populated areas in Los Angeles and caused huge difficulty for transportation as a result of failure in several roadways and freeway interchanges.
The tea cups that began to shatter were enough to wake Rose M. Quinn from her bed in the early morning hours of April 18, 1906. The earthquake that lasted just one minute was estimated to be close to 8.0 on the richter scale and was large enough to destroy 30,000 buildings, including her own home, in what was determined to be one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in U.S history. And while Ms.Quinn held out hope that her “City of the Golden West” would restore its nearly 400 million dollars worth of damage (10.8 billion dollars today), an even stronger and largely unknown earthquake rocked the United States just 100 years prior.
Of all the naturally occurring events on Earth, earthquakes are among the most devastating and bring a lot of truth to the statement, “Just because something is natural does not mean it is not dangerous.” Earthquakes are one of the most natural things I can think of that can cause massive damage and loss of human live in many instances, and the effects are sometimes long term. “Nothing happens without a force. Many geophysicists accept the theory that continents move as a result of the forces generated by mantel convection deep within Earth – motions driven by our planet’s internal heat energy” (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). According to National Geographic (1996-2012), constant movement in the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s
Fourteen years since 9/11, the attack has retained its place in history as the greatest loss
Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.
As the fifth largest healthcare provide in the nation, Allegiant Health has more than 60,000 employees, which provides inpatient and outpatient care to thousands of clients in 21 states. In San Francisco, where the healthcare provider is headquartered, the question of a large earthquake hitting the area is not if, but when. In the past, the area has experienced numerous catastrophic earthquakes. In 1906, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude 7.8, which occurred as a result of a rupture of 296 miles of the San Andreas fault (USGS and UC Berkeley, n. D), struck the greater San Francisco area causing wide spread damage and igniting fires that as damaging as the earthquake itself. The 1906 earthquake and resulting fire responsible for the
Large magnitude earthquakes occur on plate boundaries and can produce hazards such as movement along faults, landslides, and tsunamis. In North America, the western coast is an active margin, meaning that it is home to earthquakes and
On April 18, 1906, an earthquake occurred in San Francisco with a magnitude of 7.9. The earthquake was caused by the San Andreas Fault since the San Andreas Fault slip over a segment. The earthquake could be felt from Oregon to southern California. Buildings in San Francisco was destroyed by earthquake and fires. Fires started after the earthquake occurred and firefighters were not able to stop the fire because the water mains were broken and because of this, firestorms started to develop around San Francisco. Then, the San Francisco Mayor E.E. Schmitz called the U.S. Army troops to shoot anyone that is found looting. While the army was doing that, firefighters and U.S. troops tried to fight the fire by dynamiting the city to create firewalls.
For those who don't know, certain areas such as; “Cape Mendocino to the Mexican border. San Diego, Los Angeles, and Big Sur are on the Pacific Plate. San Francisco, Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada are on the North American Plate”(Lynch). These areas are where people are afraid of earthquakes, afraid of the “big one” that will eventually come, “Scientists say it’s possible for Southern California to be hit by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake. Such a quake would be far more destructive to the Los Angeles area because the San Andreas fault runs very close to, and underneath densely populated areas”(Tribune Content Agency).
Earthquakes have afflicted the world since its inception. The sudden release of energy from volcanoes or displacing of earth plates can result in disasters of extreme magnitude. These usually naturally occurring phenomenon have been responsible from wiping out entire towns throughout history and until today continue to produce major loss of life and infrastructure. It can take years for a city or country to recover from a major event of this kind and when a third world country is involved, the result is usually exponentially worse than in a developed country. In the past decades Japan, Chile and Haiti have suffered the devastation an earthquake produces. This document will concentrate in Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean. On
Region Chosen: Mexico City, Mexico Issue Chosen: Subsidence / Sinking of Mexico City Summary of the issue: Mexico City is at risk of sinking and forcing its 21 million+ residence to find homes elsewhere. The city is sinking due to its fragile foundation atop the Valley of Mexico lake system at a rate of 10 to 40cm per year. A number of problems are directly contributing to this subsidence; over draining the Valley of Mexico aquifer, classism relating to water distribution, the problems relating to water maintenance, the growing populations' water needs growing and increasingly heavy buildings. This subsidence issue is connected to all development issues within Mexico City including but not limited to: lack of accessible water in Mexico
The January 12, 2010 Haiti Earthquake caused an enormous destruction in the Caribbean nation. Hospitals and government buildings collapsed along with an unbelievable amount of homes. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and many more were wounded. The disaster added more misery to people already struggling to get by with everyday life. Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world. The January 12 quake demolished almost every major building in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. About 5,000 schools in the city were destroyed or damaged. Throughout Haiti, more than 220,000 people were killed, and more than 1 million were left homeless. A few days after the quake, the number of survivors stood at 121 as hopes of finding more became
Like an enormous living museum, Mexico City provides an extraordinary showplace for the thousands of years of human cultural achievement that Mexico has attained. It ranks as one of the world's great capitals and is a must for anyone craving to understand Mexico's complex past, its fast-paced present, and its ever challenging future. The size and grandeur of the city are staggering. It is not only the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western Hemisphere, but, by some accounts, has also become the largest city in the world. Before we look at present day Mexico City, let us look into it deep and storied past.
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
← Cyclones in India generally strike the East Coast; some of the Arabian Sea Cyclones strike the west coast of India as well mainly the Gujarat and North Maharashtra coast. Out of the storms that develop in the Bay of Bengal, over 58 percent approach or cross the east coast in October and November.