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COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & APPLIED ARTSOF TRINIDAD & TOBAGOGOVERNMENT VOCATIONAL CENTRE POINT FORTIN  DISASTER PREPAREDNESS & FIRST AID ENV 215 LECTURER: MITRA RAMLAKHAN  ASSIGNMENT I  EARTHQUAKE DISASTER 2007.06.06  By AKO KERN LEWISSELVON COARD MARLON McSWEEN  LEON PHILLIP
 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE MECHANISM OF AN EARTHQUAKE...…………………………….3 AGENCIES THAT CAN OFFER ASSISTANCE…………………………...4 POINT FORTIN’S VULNERABILITY TO AN EARTHQUAKE...………..7  LESSING THE IMPACT OF AN EARTHQUAKE...……………………...11 APPENDIX I....................…………………………………………………...16  REFERENCES……………………………………………………………...23
 
 
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Q State the likely mechanism of action of an Earthquakedisaster.A
 
An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the Earth caused by the breaking and shifting of rock beneath the Earth's surface. For hundreds of millions of years, the forces of plate tectonics haveshaped the Earth as the huge plates that form the Earth's surface move slowly over, under, andpast each other. Sometimes the movement is gradual. At other times, the plates are lockedtogether, unable to release the accumulating energy. When the accumulated energy grows strongenough, the plates break free causing the ground to shake. Most earthquakes occur at theboundaries where the plates meet; however, some earthquakes occur in the middle of plates.Most naturally occurring earthquakes are related to the tectonic nature of the Earth. Suchearthquakes are called tectonic earthquakes. The Earth's lithosphere is a patchwork of plates inslow but constant motion caused by the heat in the Earth's mantle and planetary core. The heatcauses the rock under the earth to become liquid magma on geological timescales, on which theplates are able to move, slowly but surely. Plate boundaries grind past each other, creatingfrictional stress. When the frictional stress exceeds a critical value, called local strength, asudden failure occurs. The boundary of tectonic plates along which failure occurs is called thefault plane. When the failure at the fault plane results in a violent displacement of the Earth'scrust, the elastic strain energy is released and seismic waves are radiated, thus causing anearthquake.
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