5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

Why does our land shake

violently?

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.1 What are the effects of

earthquakes? It is a violent shaking
of the ground.
What is an
earthquake?

They may cause great

damage and loss of life.
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.1 What are the effects of

earthquakes?
Breaking of power
lines/ gas pipes
Direct effects
Collapse of
buildings/ structures
Landslide
Collapse of dams

Damage to
transport systems

Injuries and
deaths

(Credit: Pacific Press Service/

Alamy Stock Photo)
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.1 What are the effects of

earthquakes?
Indirect effects Fires

Collapse of
buildings/
structures

Disruption to
Injuries and
the delivery of
deaths
Floods emergency aid
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Wenchuan

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake

rocks Wenchuan
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5.2 Why do earthquakes happen?

A Structure of the earth
The earth is made
Crust up of three layers.

Mantle

Core

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A Structure of the earth

The crust Form the

continents
___________

6–70 km

Made up of Form the

rigid rocks ocean
________
floors
________
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A Structure of the earth

High temperature
and pressure
The mantle

2,900 km

Made up of
denser rocks
than the crust

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A Structure of the earth

Highest
temperature
The core
and pressure

3,470 km

Made up of
even denser Structure of
rocks the earth
blue_link

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A Structure of the earth

Plate Rigid rock

Sea Crust
Lithosphere
Continental Uppermost
Crust crust part of the
mantle Plate
(broken
pieces)

Mantle

(Not drawn to scale)

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

A Structure of the earth Hardness of two

kinds of solid
Plate blue_link

Sea
Continental Lithosphere (Plate)
Crust crust

Asthenosphere

This is in plastic
Mantle state.
The rocks can flow
very slowly under
high temperature
and pressure.
(Not drawn to scale)
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B Movement of plates
In general, plates move in three ways:

Plate Plate

Asthenosphere

Move away from each other

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B Movement of plates
In general, plates move in three ways:

Plate Plate

Asthenosphere
Move towards each other

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

B Movement of plates
In general, plates move in three ways:

Plate
Plate

Asthenosphere
Move past each other

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C Plate boundaries
The narrow junction between two moving plates is
plate ___________.
called a ________ boundary
N

North
Eurasian Plate American
Juan de Plate
Okhotsk
Fuca Plate
Hong Plate
Kong
Arabian Caribbean Plate
Plate
Philippine
Cocos
Plate Plate
African Plate
Pacific Plate
South
Nazca
Plate American
Indo-Australian Plate
Plate

Antarctic Plate 0 2,600 km Scotia Plate

Plate boundary Direction of plate movement Plates moving past each other

Major plates and their direction of movement

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C Plate boundaries
The narrow junction between two moving plates is
plate ___________.
called a ________ boundary
N

North
Eurasian Plate On which plate is American
Juan de Plate
Hong
Okhotsk
Plate
Kong
Fuca Plate located?
Hong
Eurasian Plate Kong
Caribbean Plate
Arabian
Plate
Philippine
Cocos
Plate Plate
African Plate
Pacific Plate
South
Nazca
Plate American
Indo-Australian Plate
Plate

Antarctic Plate 0 2,600 km Scotia Plate

Plate boundary Direction of plate movement Plates moving past each other

Major plates and their direction of movement

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C Plate boundaries
The narrow junction between two moving plates is
plate ___________.
called a ________ boundary
N

What are the plate North

Eurasian Plate American
movements at Okhotsk
Juan de Plate
Fuca Plate
BoundaryHong A? Plate
Kong
Arabian Caribbean Plate
Plate
Philippine
Cocos
Plate Plate
African Plate
Move away Pacific Plate
South
Nazca
A from each Indo-Australian
other Plate American
Plate
Plate

Antarctic Plate 0 2,600 km Scotia Plate

Plate boundary Direction of plate movement Plates moving past each other

Major plates and their direction of movement

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C Plate boundaries
The narrow junction between two moving plates is
plate ___________.
called a ________ boundary
N

North
Eurasian Plate American
What
Okhotskare the plate
Juan de
Fuca Plate
Plate
Hong Plate
Kong movements at Caribbean Plate
Arabian
Philippine
Plate Boundary
Plate
B?
Cocos
Plate
African Plate
Pacific Plate
South
Nazca
Plate American
Indo-Australian Plate
Plate B
Move towards
Antarctic Plate 0
each
2,600 km other Scotia Plate

Plate boundary Direction of plate movement Plates moving past each other

Major plates and their direction of movement

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D Plate movement and earthquakes

When plates move along plate boundaries,

stress
the rock experiences _______.
Energy
Stress

Energy is built up and

_______
stored in the rock.

Plate Plate

When the stored

energy exceeds the
strength of the rock,
breaks
the rock ________. Asthenosphere

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

D Plate movement and earthquakes

released
The stored energy is __________
Energy

The sudden shaking

of the ground called
earthquake
an ___________.
Plate Plate

Asthenosphere

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

D Plate movement and earthquakes

The occurrence of an earthquake
Energy is released in all directions as
Epicentre seismic waves, shaking everything

Focus (original of an Direction of

earthquake) plate movement
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5.3 Where do earthquakes occur?

About 90% of earthquakes occur near plate boundaries.
N

Do serious earthquakes
occur in Hong Kong? Why?
No, because Hong Kong is not
0 2,600 km
at or near any plate boundaries.
Plate boundary Earthquake (with magnitude 6.0 or above)
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5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Preventive
1 Setting up monitoring and early
warning systems
measure

Track and record

the movement of
seismic waves

(Credit: James
St. John/Flickr)
Seismogram from the Lhasa seismic station
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Preventive
1 Setting up monitoring and early
warning systems
measure

Alert people before an

earthquake arrives at
their location to give
people time to protect
themselves
(Credit: Tony Webster/Flickr)
Phone alerts on cell phone
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Preventive
2 Adopting careful land use planning
measure

Avoid development
and building
facilities with
potential dangers
(Credit: Yuichiro Haga/Flickr)
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Preventive
2 Adopting careful land use planning
measure

Set up evacuation
routes with adequate
road signs to guide
people to safe places

(Credit: Eric Lafforgue/Art In All Of Us/Corbis/Getty Images)

A road sign for earthquake evacuation in Japan

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Preventive
3 Constructing earthquake-proof
buildings and structures
measure

Earthquake-proof
designs prevent the
collapse of buildings
and infrastructure
(Credit: Bernard
Spragg. NZ/Flickr)
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Preventive
4 Educating people and having
regular earthquake drills
measure

Education and
regular earthquake
drills increase
people’s awareness
(Credit: Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo)
Students evacuating during an earthquake drill
in Japan
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Remedial
5 Having well-trained rescue teams
measure

Well-trained and well-

equipped rescue
teams can increase the
(Credit: DFID - UK Department for Internationalnumber of survivors
Development/Flickr)
A rescue team with trained dog searching for
survivors in Nepal after the earthquake in 2015
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Remedial
6 Providing temporary shelters, as
well as emergency and financial aid
measure

Shelters and
emergency
supplies of food
increase the
chance of
survival after
(Credit: ECHO/Susana Perez Diaz/EU Civil earthquakes
Protection and Humanitarian Aid/Flickr)
Temporary shelter for Haitians after
earthquake in 2010
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Remedial
6 Providing temporary shelters, as
well as emergency and financial aid
measure

Shelters and
emergency
supplies of food
increase the
chance of
survival after
earthquakes
(Credit: Lance Cpl. Dengrier Baez/DVIDSHUB/Flickr)
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

5.4 How do people prepare for and

respond to earthquakes?
Remedial
6 Providing temporary shelters, as
well as emergency and financial aid
measure

Financial aid helps

people rebuild their
(Credit: Ahmad Salman/AusAID/Flickr) homes
Reviving livelihoods through microfinance training
after earthquake in 2006 in Klaten, Indonesia
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The
END
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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Wenchuan

Location of the earthquake

Wenchuan

0 800 km
(Credit: David and Jessie Cowhig/Flickr)

Date: 12 May 2008

Place: Wenchuan county of Sichuan in China
Magnitude: 8.0
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A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Wenchuan

(Credit: David and Jessie Cowhig/Flickr)

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Wenchuan

The earthquake led to serious
landslides on many hill slopes
2 Sand and mud
blocked the river
and formed a dam
1 Landslide
3 A lake was
formed

(Credit: China Photos/Getty Images)

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A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Wenchuan

Injuries and deaths

More than 69,000

people died
Over 370,000 people
were injured
About 18,000 people
were missing

（Credit: Miniwiki/Wikimedia Commons）

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5 Living with natural hazards © Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 2022

A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Wenchuan

Collapse of buildings/structures

Most of the roads and

houses within 100,000 km2
were damaged.
About 4.8 million people
required shelter as their
homes were destroyed
or damaged.

(Credit: David and Jessie

Cowhig/Flickr)

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