Effects of Earthquake in a Community: Liam Hinalog G12 HUMSS 2

EARTHQUAKES: What are its effect to our community?

An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault. An earthquake is the sudden release of strain energy in the Earth’s crust, resulting in waves of shaking that radiate outwards from the earthquake source. When stresses in the crust exceed the strength of the rock, it breaks along lines of weakness, either a pre-existing or new fault plane.

Earthquakes can cause local or widespread damage to structures, things inside buildings, people, property, or just about anything depending on the strength of the groundshaking. A smaller quake would likely rattle things on shelves and maybe knock some things off. a larger quake could cause extensive widespread damage, like what happened in Japan.

EFFECTS ON THE COMMUNITY

1. Damage to Buildings

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can damage buildings. High-magnitude earthquakes can utterly demolish structures. Because the falling effects of massive, heavy things can be harmful to humans, the major hazard during an earthquake is debris from crumbling structures. In high-magnitude earthquakes, mirrors and windows are shattered, putting people in danger.

2. Damage to Infrastructure

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can damage infrastructures. Earthquakes have the potential to take down power lines. Live wires that are exposed are hazardous because they can electrocute people or cause fires. Major earthquakes can destroy roads, gas lines, and water pipes. A broken gas pipe might cause gas to leak.

Escaped gas can cause explosions and fires that are difficult to put out. Severe shaking, on the other hand, has the potential to cause major damage to the built environment. In the same way as seismic waves.

3. Landslides and Rockslides

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can cause landslides and rockslides. Large rocks and pieces of earth located uphill can be dislodged during an earthquake, causing them to roll fast down into valleys. People living downstream can be harmed or killed by landslides and rockslides.

Furthermore, earthquake vibrations compact granular soils (sand, gravel, and silt), resulting in the sinking. When the terrain is dry, slightly saturated, or saturated with high permeability, this type of ground movement is common. Flooding occurs along the sea, lakes, and river banks, posing a hazard to ports, roadways, and services. Land uplift combined with flooding can sometimes result in the formation of artificial waterfalls.

4. Floods

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can cause floods. High-magnitude earthquakes can cause dam walls to break and eventually collapse. This would cause major flooding by releasing raging waters into nearby places.

5. Tsunamis

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can cause tsunamis. A tsunami is a series of long, strong sea earthquakes caused by an earthquake or underwater volcanic explosions. A tsunami is a sequence of very lengthy waves caused by an earthquake that occurs deep under the Pacific Ocean’s surface. Large tsunamis that rise from the ocean floor are hazardous to people’s health, property, and infrastructure.

Tsunami destruction has long-term consequences that can be felt well beyond the coast. A tsunami has the potential to wipe out the whole population of a coastal area. A recent example is an earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s shoreline on March 11, 2011, killing more than 18,000 people.

6. Fires

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can cause fire outbreaks. Earthquake damage facts show fires caused by earthquakes are the second most common hazard. Earthquake fires start when electrical and gas lines are dislodged due to the earth’s shaking. Gas is set free as gas lines are broken and a spark will start a firestorm.

7. Liquefaction

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can cause liquefaction. The phenomenon of liquefaction occurs when the soil becomes wet and loses its strength. When high-water-content sediments are subjected to continual trembling, the water pressure stored in the sediment pores gradually rises.

The sediments eventually lose almost all of their cohesive strength and begin to behave like liquids. Built on top of this liquefied earth, buildings and other structures overturn or sink into the ground. It occurs when the pore water pressure in the ground is too high.

Sand boils are formed when sand is expelled through holes to the ground surface. When the vibrations stop and the pore water pressure drops, the sand returns to being solid. The foundations of buildings and structures become unstable, leading them to collapse or tilt.

Sea defences and wharf walls were even damaged during the Kobe earthquake. Underground tanks, bridge pilings, and pipelines may be lifted to the surface by liquefaction. Ground subsidence and slope failure can also occur across broad areas.

8. Earthquakes can lead to other Hazards

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can lead to other hazards. Disease outbreaks are possible when the built human environment is affected in this way. They occur as a result of a lack of housing, poor sanitation, and water contamination due to a clogged sewer line.

The consequences of earthquakes on the natural environment, such as floods, can sometimes result in the formation of wetlands. Disease-causing organisms may be encouraged to reproduce and spread as a result of this. There can be electrical hazard also.

9. Earthquakes Impact on the Economy

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they affect the economy. Earthquakes, like all-natural disasters, disrupt business operations, ruin assets, and injure or kill people. All of these factors, when combined, invariably result in financial losses. During the twentieth century alone, more than 1200 global earthquakes cost more than $10 billion in economic damage.

10. Loss of Lives and Social Disruption

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can lead to loss of lives and social disruption. Similarly, earthquakes that strike unprepared communities might result in several casualties and deaths. This can happen when buildings and structures collapse due to ground shaking, or it can happen as a result of secondary impacts.

People may experience psychological anguish as a result of such situations. Some people may have to live with chronic injuries for the rest of their life. Earthquakes can cause family stress and social fabric destruction in communities as a whole.

11. Ground Shaking

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they cause the ground to shake. Earthquakes cause ground shaking as a result of their immediate effects. When these vibrations grow strong, they can displace or even break the Earth’s surface. Other risks, like liquefaction and landslides, are triggered by the shaking.

Seismic waves travelling beneath houses, roads, and other structures cause the majority of earthquake damage. As a result, a low cliff known as a fault scarp may emerge along the fault, which may extend for a considerable distance. Other hazards and sorts of damage, such as a house shifting off its foundation, are frequently caused by ground shaking.

12. Surface Rupture

One of the negative effects of earthquakes is that they can cause surface rupture. Surface rupture is the most dangerous type of earthquake hazard. Structures, roads, railways, and pipelines can be severely damaged by surface rupture, which can affect enormous amounts of land. An earthquake’s vibrations can cause ground displacement and surface rupture.