DRM in critical Infrastructure sector,ERM225

Hazards due to Earthquake

Earthquake is a natural calamity that vibrates the earth and as it only causes various destruction to lives and properties, it has been terribly recognized as a natural hazards for human being and other lives on the Earth. Damages by earthquakes varies with the strength of earthquakes, local rock beds, type of building construction and life support system.

Earthquake hazards may be grouped as:

 Primary hazards;  Secondary hazards;

Primary hazards:
Primary hazards of earthquakes are caused directly by the phenomena. They include violent ground motion accompanied by surface ruptures and, perhaps, permanent displacement of a meter or so. For example The 1906 earthquake of Sun Francisco produced 5 meters of horizontal displacement. During an earthquake there must be a great vibration that collapses the buildings and the other structures where man lives. As a result Figure 1 - San Francisco burning after the1906 earthquake most of lives, properties and land damages earthquake . occur. Roads and bridges destroyed and interrupting transportation.

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Secondary hazards may be grouped as

Short range of effect: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Liquefaction ; Landslide; Fire; Tsunami; Flooding ; Volcanic activity; Chemical Hazards Release; Structural Collapse etc.

Long range effect:

Regional subsidence or emergence of landslides, regional changes in ground water levels, regional uplift etc.

Liquefaction:
Water saturated granular material may be transformed solid to a liquid state , as a result of earthquake shaking in a process called liquefaction. It may be occur several minutes after an earthquake, causing building to sink and underground tanks to flood. When liquefaction occurs, the strength of the soils decreases, and the ability of soil deposit to support foundations for buildings, bridges, etc are reduced. For example- Liquefaction was responsible for much of the damages in the Loma Pricta quake, 1964 in Alaska Figure 2-These strong buildings in Niigata, Japan, fell over when and 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan. the sediments bellow them liquefied during the 1964 earthquake.

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Fires:
When an earthquake occur near a modern city, fire can be a greater than the shaking of the ground. Disruption of electrical power lines and broken of gas pipe lines can start fires that are difficult to control because fire fighting instruments may be damaged and essential water mains may be broken . For exampleThe Sun Francisco earthquakes refers as Sun Francisco fire because 80% of the damage was caused by fire.

Figure 3-Fire set on after a devastating earthquake on eleven March, 2011 in Japan.

Tsunamis:
The sudden movement of the sea floor upward or downward during a submarine earthquake can generate very large sea-waves, popularly called as tidal waves or seismic seawaves .Generally, these are caused by great earthquakes (magnitude 8+) that disrupt the seafloor . Tsunami can be tens of feet of high when they hit the shores and can do enormous damage to the coast lines .Fortunately they are relatively rare and usually they are confined to the Figure 4 -A tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Pacific Ocean. For example-One of the most destructive tsunamis in the modern time was generated in April1, 1946 by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake off- shore form Alaska and recent one has taken place in Japan which occupied more than ten feet height of sea water on eleven March ,2011 .

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Land Slides:
Land Slides triggered by earthquakes themselves cause more destruction than earthquake themselves .For example- On October 8,2005 , a magnitude of 7.6 earthquake across northern Pakistan and Borker areas of India triggered massive land Slides.
Figure 5-An Aerial view of Land Slides of Kobe, Japan Eathquake,1995.

Figure 6- Landslide near Guatemala due to earthquake.

Flooding:
An earthquake can ruptures dams dam embankments along a river .The water from the river or the reservoir would then flood the area, damaging buildings and may be sweeping away or drowning peoples.

Figure 7-Flooding due to earthquake in Pakistan.

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Volcanic activity:
Earthquakes are caused by the movement of the huge plates of the earth's crust along the top of the magma. At one end of a plate the magma is constantly being released puching the plates apart at that point. At the other end, the plate material is being pushed underground deeper into the magma to be melted .The crust itself is pretty irregular. Sometimes Figure 8- volcanoes in Far East Russia due to strong plate the pressure from the movement of movement under the earth's surface. the plates gets "stuck" and sits for some time until the pressure from the expanding end of the plate overcomes the resistance and it breaks free suddenly. What should have been a steady 1-3 inches per year of movement can build up to moving 6, 12, 18 inches or more of movement in an instant causing an earthquake. The amount of sudden slip has a lot to do with the severity of the quake. The shockwave of such a massive quick movement ripples through the land outward from the center of the slip (epicenter). This shockwave can occasionally break open an otherwise sealed vent to a magma chamber allowing a volcano which was previously inactive to suddenly become active again.

Structural Collapse:
Earthquakes are a severe structural hazard that causes vibrations in the structures due to the ground shaking. If the structures are weak, or extremely rigid to withstand severe vibrations, then these may collapse. The tall buildings may experience extreme vibrations due to their height, and may fall down or into each other. Other destructive effects on structures due to an earthquake are sliding away from their foundations, and their horizontal or vertical movements that may make the structures unsafe.
Figure 9-Turkey earthquake,2004.

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Figure 11-Structural Collapse of China earthquake.

Figure 10- Kobe earthquake in Japan, 1995.

Chemical Hazards Release:

Hazardous chemicals may also be released from the garage and/or utility room from homes in the neighborhood, threatening the life safety locally. Chemical hazards may be flammable like paints, gasoline and propane tanks; irritants like bleach or ammonia; or toxic like lawn and garden insecticides, solvents, adhesives, and lubricants. Hazardous chemicals do in fact cause acute and/or chronic health effects and, consequently, are health hazards. Acute health effects appear quickly after brief exposure to the chemical hazard, while chronic health effects appear during and/or after long-term exposure.

Figure 12-Chemical substance release due to earthquake.

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Regional changes in land elevation and land movements:

During an earthquake, land movements results a slow creep or rapid offsets both horizontally and vertically (uplift and subsidence).All of these causes extensive damage which are generated from the shaking of the ground.

Figure 13- This road, which crosses the San Andreas fault, was cut in half by the 1906 earthquake. One end of the road slid 20 feet (6.5 meters) past the other during the quake.

Figure 14-Ground replacement due to earthquake in Japan.

Figure 15-Land subsidence due to earthquake in Japan.

Conclusion:
It has been recognized that the available scientific knowledge is not being fully utilized in forecasting the hazards, It is important to stress the role of social sciences in understanding hazards and their mitigation; and the role of the private sector and civil societies in building and enhancing regional capacity for disaster reduction, building self-sustaining capacity at various levels for different hazards and establishing continuity in capacity building.

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