Geography

ESSAY
TECTONIC HAZARDS IN MEDC'S AND LEDC'S

Word count: 1002

Student: Teacher:
Darija Dizdarevic Amela Murtic
Signature:

28.October.2022
Content
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Less economically developed country.........................................................................................6
2.1. Peru earthquake, 2019..........................................................................................................6
3. More economically developed country........................................................................................7
3.1. China earthquake, 2008.......................................................................................................7
4. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................9
5. Bibliography...............................................................................................................................10
5.1. WWW pages.......................................................................................................................10
5.2. Pictures................................................................................................................................10
 1. Introduction

An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another.

These blocks are called tectonic plates. Since the edges of the plates are rough, they get stuck

while the rest of the plate keeps moving. Finally, when the plate has moved far enough, the

edges unstick on one of the faults and there is an earthquake. 1

Earthquakes can strike any location at any time, but history shows they occur in the same

general patterns year after year, principally in three large zones of the earth:

 The world's largest earthquake belt, the circum-Pacific semi belt, is found along the

rim of the Pacific Ocean. The belt exists along boundaries of tectonic plates, where

plates of mostly oceanic crust are sinking (or subducting) beneath another plate.

Earthquakes in these subduction zones are caused by slip between plates and rupture

within plates;

 The Alpide earthquake belt extends from Java to Sumatra through. Himalayas, the

Mediterranean, and out in the Atlantic. This belt accounts for about 17 percent of the

world's largest earthquakes;

 The mid-Atlantic Ridge. The ridge marks where two tectonic plates are spreading

apart. 2

1
Earthquake Hazards | U.S. Geological Survey, October 25, 2022,
https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/science-earthquakes
2
Where do earthquakes occur? | U.S. Geological Survey, October 25, 2022, https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/where-
do-earthquakes-occur
 Picture 1: circum-Pacific belt and the Alpide belt3

Picture 2: mid-Atlantic Ridge4

Research Question: In which country (MEDC or LEDC) do people feel the effects of the

eartquake more?
3
What is the meaning of earthquake belt? – Quora, October 25, 2022, https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-
meaning-of-earthquake-belt
4
Business Insider, October 28, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/atlantic-ocean-widening-geologic-
forces-earth-crust-2021-1
Action Plan: -gathering basic information about the earthquakes that I've chosen;

-going through several pages that characterize them in detail;

-doing research on damage those hazards have caused;

-making a final assumption based on the financial and economical loss.

Hypothesis: People in less economically developed countries feel the effects more, since they

are financially behind. They don't have enough resources to pay off the physical damage

caused and treat injured people.

Global context: I chose globalization and sustainabilty. The aspect I will explore is the

impact of desicion-making on humankind and the environment., and how earthquakes affect

popultaion and demography. After a disaster it's all on humans to decide how to treat the

environment. Also, there are significant changes in population density and demography after a

disaster

2. Less economically developed country

 2.1. Peru earthquake, 2019.

This earthquake occurred in a remote area of the Amazon Jungle in Peru at 2:41 a.m. local

time; May 26th 2019. It had a moment magnitude of 8.0 and duration of 60 seconds. The

earthquake was caused by the Nazca Plate subducting beneath the South American plates. The

epicenter took place with the Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria in the Loreto region of

northern Peru. The damage was limited due to the combination of the earthquake's relatively

deep hypocentral location (around 110 kilometers) and the sparsley populated zone in which it

occurred.

Up to May 30th, the earthquake caused 2 fatalities, 2 deaths, 30 injuries, one collapsed

bridge, 5 affected pedestrian bridges, several landslides, about 51 km of affected roads, and

damage to numerous of structures including: 46 health centers, 296 school buildings, 15

commercial buildings, 15 churches, which include 5 collapses, and more than 600

uninhabitable residential units. The earthquake also damaged 833 homes and left 404 of them

uninhabitable.5

5
CAPRA, October 26, 2022, https://ecapra.org/news/magnitude-8-deep-earthquake-strikes-northern-peru
 Picture 2: Interactive intensity map. Retrieved from USGS6

3. More economically developed country

3.1. China earthquake, 2008.

Sichuan earthquake of 2008, also called Wenchuan earthquake, massive and

enormously devastating earthquake that occurred in the mountainous central region of

Sichuan province in southwestern China on May 12th, 2008. The epicenter of the

magnitude 8.0 earthquake was located near the city of Dujiangyan, about 80 km west-

northwest of Chengdu the province capital. It lasted for about 2 minutes.

6
CAPRA, October 26, 2022, https://ecapra.org/news/magnitude-8-deep-earthquake-strikes-northern-peru
 The earthquake flattened some 4/5 of the structures in the affected area. Villages and

towns in the mountains were destroyed, and many schools collapsed. Almost 90,000

people were counted as dead or missing, nearly 375,000 people were injured. Hundreds of

dams, including two major ones, were found to have sustained damage. Millions of people

were made homeless, the cost of which was estimated at $86 billion. Total damage cost

was determined to be $150 billion.7

Picture 3: Interactive intensity map8

4. Conclusion

7
Encyclopædia Britannica, October 26, 2022 https://www.britannica.com/event/Sichuan-earthquake-of-2008
8
Encyclopædia Britannica, October 26, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Sichuan-earthquake-of-2008
 Since MEDC is a more economically developed country, I expected there to be less deaths

and damage in MECD's than LEDC's. Firstly, because MEDC 's can afford to spend money

on prediction methods, such as GPS satellite. Also the fact that MEDC's have more money

would also mean that they can spend more money on preparing the country for an earthquake.

I could see that there was a substantial amount of damage occurring in China 2008.

earthquake, even though it was a MEDC, which leads me to believe that other factors need to

be considered as to why there was so much damage.

Social effects of the 2019 Peru earthquake were that there were only 2 deaths recorded and

30 people injured. This is in contrast to the number of deaths from the China earthquake,

which is mainly due to the population density of China. In a MEDC, there are many more tall

buildings and skyscrapers crashing down, more houses are being destroyed and as a result

there are a lot of deaths and uninhabitable places. Also, because of a denser population there

are many injuries, hospitals become overcrowded making it difficult to treat injured people.

Despite the fact that MEDC has the technology and all measurements taken to predict an

earthquake, some disasters can happen anytime and very suddenly. Economic impacts will

always be great as buildings are being destroyed, bridges collapsed and fires blazed

destroying everything in their path. This causes a lot of financial problems for the citiy's

inhabitants, as the taxes would have to rise because a large amount of money would be needed

to pay off the damage caused. All of this leads me to a conclusion that my hypothesis was not

correct, taking the fact that MEDC would have greater economic and financial problems. This

would effect people living in a more economically developed country much more.

5. Bibliography
 5.1. WWW pages

Earthquake Hazards | U.S. Geological Survey,

https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/science-earthquakes (October 25,

2022)

Where do earthquakes occur? | U.S. Geological Survey,

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/where-do-earthquakes-occur (October 25, 2022)

CAPRA

https://ecapra.org/news/magnitude-8-deep-earthquake-strikes-northern-peru (October 26,

2022)

Encyclopædia Britannica,

https://www.britannica.com/event/Sichuan-earthquake-of-2008 (October 26, 2022)

5.2. Pictures

What is the meaning of earthquake belt? – Quora,

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-of-earthquake-belt (October 25, 2022)

Business Insider,

https://www.businessinsider.com/atlantic-ocean-widening-geologic-forces-earth-crust-2021-

1 (October 28, 2022)

CAPRA,

https://ecapra.org/news/magnitude-8-deep-earthquake-strikes-northern-peru (October 26,

2022)