Ecological disasters

Earthquake

Amartya Rajiv Gowda IX A

Acknowledgement

I take this opportunity to thank the management of our school Vidyashilp

Academy for giving me an opportunity to undertake this research study
in the form of the titled “ecological disasters”. I would like to express my
deepest gratitude to my teacher prabha for all the guidance and
continued encouragement and support given throughout this study.

I would like to thank our Head of the school Mrs. KalaiSelvi for always
giving us the required support in academic matters whenever required.
Last but not the least I would like to thank and express my regards to my
family and all friends for their exclusive contribution without which the
project would not have been completed efficiently.

Amartya Rajiv Gowda

10891
Table of contents

SL NO CONTENT PAGE
1 introduction 3
2 What are earthquakes 4
3 Major earthquake belts 5
4 Largest earthquakes 6
5 Man made causes for 7
earthquakes
6 2011 japan earthquake 8
7 The effects of the earthquake 9
8 The precautions for the 10
earthquake
9 The tsunami 11
10 conclusion 12
11 bibliography 13
12 Time chart 14
Introduction
Ecological disasters are environmental disasters or ecological disasters
is a catastrophic event regarding the environment due to human activity.
This distinguishes it from the concept of a natural disaster. It is also
distinct from intentional acts of war such as nuclear bombings.

Ecological disasters are caused by various physical and natural

elements causing an imbalance of elements.

The various ecological disasters include Earthquakes, Landslides,

Tsunamis, Volcanic Activity, cyclones, Avalanches, Floods and many
others.
Earthquakes
Earthquakes are also known as a tremor, tremblor or a quake.An
earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a
sudden release of energy in the earth's lithosphere that creates seismic
waves. . Earthquakes are affected by the movement of tectonic plates
and volcanic activities.

Natural Earthquakes occur anywhere in the earth where there is

sufficient stored elastic strain energy to drive fracture propagation along
a fault plane.

seismic waves are produced when some form of energy stored in Earth’s
crust is suddenly released, usually when masses of rock straining
against one another suddenly fracture and “slip.” Earthquakes occur
most often along geologic faults,, narrow zones where rock masses
move in relation to one another. The major fault lines of the world are
located at the fringes of the huge tectonic plates that make up Earth’s
crust.
The major earthquake belts
Earth’s major earthquakes occur mainly in belts coinciding with the
margins of tectonic plates. This has long been apparent from early
catalogs of felt earthquakes and is even more readily discernible in
modern seismicity maps, which show instrumentally determined
epicentres

The most important earthquake belt is the circumferential pacific belt,

which affects many populated coastal regions around the pacific ocean
— for example, New Zealand, New Guinea, Japan, the Aleutian Islands,
Alaska, and the Western coasts of North and South America . It is
estimated that 80 percent of the energy presently released in
Earthquakes comes from those whose epicentres are in this belt. The
seismic activity is by no means uniform throughout the belt, and there
are a number of points at various points. Because at many places the
Circum-Pacific Belt is associated with volcanic activity, it has been
popularly dubbed the "Pacific Ring of Fire."

Seismic waves generated by an earthquake source are classified into

three main types. The first two, the P (or primary) and S (or secondary)
waves, propagate within the body of the body, while the third, consisting
of Love and Rayleigh waves, propagates along its surface.
Largest earthquakes-:
1. Valdivia, Chile, 22 May 1960 (9.5) ...
2. Prince William Sound, Alaska, 28 March 1964 (9.2)
3. Sumatra, Indonesia, 26 December 2004 (9.1)
4. Sendai, Japan, 11 March 2011 (9.0)
5. Kamchatka, Russia, 4 November 1952 (9.0)
6. Bio-bio, Chile, 27 February 2010 (8.8)

In this project I will explain in depth about the 2011 japan earthquake.
Man made causes for earthquakes
Beyond common energy industry practices leading to the most
human-made earthquakes across the globe, other quake-causing
activities include building construction, carbon capture and storage,
nuclear explosions, geothermal operations and research experiments
that test fault stress.
2011 Japan earthquake
The earthquake
at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter
approximately 70 kilometers (43 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of
Tōhoku and the hypocenter at an underwater depth of approximately 29
km (18 mi).

The Earthquake is often referred to as the Great East Japan Earthquake

and is also known as the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake, the Great Sendai
Earthquake, the Great Tōhoku Earthquake, and the Great Earthquake of
March 11.
it was a magnitude 9.0–9.1 (Mw) undersea megathrust earthquake off
the coast of Japan
The effects of the earthquake
Physical- The tsunami caused nuclear accidents primarily the level 7 at
three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex,
and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of
residents. Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. The loss of
electrical power halted cooling systems, causing heat to build up. The
heat build-up caused the generation of hydrogen gas. Without
ventilation, gas accumulated within the reactor containment structures
and eventually exploded. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were evacuated.

economical-Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake

alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.The bank of japan offered yen 15
trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March in an effort to
normalize market conditions. The world bank’s estimated economic cost
was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in history.

geographical-Portions of northeastern Japan shifted by as much as 2.4

metres (7 ft 10 in) closer to north america making some sections of
Japan's land mass wider than before. Those areas of Japan closest to
the epicenter experienced the largest shifts. A 400-kilometre (250 mi)
stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in), allowing
the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.One early estimate
suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20
metres (66 ft), and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at
as much as 40 m. Japan experienced over 1,000 aftershocks since the
earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 Mw and several of
which have been over magnitude 7.0 Mw

The precautions for the earthquake

One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, the earthquake
early warning system system, which includes more than 1,000
seismometers in Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking
to millions. It is believed that the early warning by the japan
meteorological agency (JMA) saved many lives. The warning for the
general public was delivered about 8 seconds after the first P wave was
detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However,
the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some
places, especially in Kanto, Koshinetsu , and Northern Tōhoku regions
where the populace warning did not trigger. According to the JMA
meteorological institute, reasons for the underestimation include a
saturated magnitude scale when using maximum amplitude as input,
failure to fully take into account the area of the hypocenter, and the initial
amplitude of the earthquake being less than that which would be
predicted by an empirical relationship.
The tsunami caused by the earthquake
An upthrust of 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 ft) along a 180 kilometres (110 mi)
wide seabed at 60 kilometres (37 mi) offshore from the east coast of
Tōhoku resulted in a major tsunami that brought destruction along the
pacific coastline of Japan's northern islands

Japan's national police agency said on 3 April 2011, that 45,700

buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and
tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi
Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima
Prefecture. Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku
were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed. The
earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of
rubble and debris in Japan.
Conclusion

During the course of this project I have learnt about what ecological
disasters are and why they occur. I learnt about earthquakes in depth
how it is formed, why and where it occurs. How humans affect
earthquakes. What are the causes and effects on earthquakes to the
people and to the earth.
Bibliography

-australian geographic
-japan meteorological agency
-japan national police reports
-the japan times
-bno news
-wikipedia
-releifweb
-brittanica
-pbs
-wired
-youtube
Time chart

Research- 2 hours
Typing- 30 minutes