Earthquake+case+studies

=Earthquake case studies =

LEDC - Haiti


Haiti is on a conservative plate boundary where the North American Plate slide pasts the Caribbean Plate. The January 12, 2010 earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale  devastated a country which was already the poorest in the Western hemisphere. More than 200,000 died and more than 300,000 were injured. The city of Port-au-Prince, with buildings made mostly of cement blocks (and no building codes), was severely damaged, and more than a million people are still living in tent cities in vacant lots and parks throughout the city. The people have shown remarkable patience, but there are few jobs and few social services, and there is health and security danger. For example, cholera in Haiti is spreading. 5,000 people have died from cholera and 250,000 cases have been reported. After the earthquake in Haiti there was a global outpouring of support, but most of it went into emergency disaster relief. Reconstruction has barely begun.

=Exercise. These are the primary and secondary effects of the Haiti earthquakes. =

=Kobe Earthquake Japan 1995 MEDC =



The earthquake occurred along the destructive plate boundary where the Pacific and the Philippine Plate (oceanic) meet the Eurasian (continental) plate. The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.

Some 75,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed during the earthquake and its aftershocks. Road and rail links were damaged, making it difficult for fire engines and ambulances to reach the worst affected parts of the city. Gas and water supplies were cut off, as were telecommunications links. Nearly 6,000 people were killed, with another 26,000 injured. 310,000 people were made homeless. The cost of repairing the damage was put at £60 billion. Most deaths happened in the old residential areas where buildings had been constructed before the introduction of designs to help withstand earthquakes. Many of the oldest buildings were wooden and caught fire very quickly. Although many newer buildings in Kobe were built to withstand earthquakes some of them still collapsed. The Hanshin Expressway, an elevated road, collapsed although it was built to withstand earthquakes measuring up to 8.3 on the Richter scale. Other modern buildings with steel frames were designed to sway in the event of an earthquake, yet some of these also collapsed. Others were so badly damaged they had to be demolished. The earthquake hit Japanese industry. The Toyota motor company had two factories in Kobe, both of which made vehicle parts which no other factory could make. Once these factories were put out of production Toyota's whole assembly system ground to a halt. The Japanese Government was heavily criticised for its response to the earthquake. Relief efforts were condemned for being slow, uncoordinated and badly equipped. = Now put these facts into which are primary and which are secondary effects. = An excellent slide show on the Kobe earthquake. []