LA Earthquakes
LOS ANGELES EARTHQUAKE CONTINGENCY REPORT:Earthquakes are caused by the crust of the Earth not being rigid and immobile but being split up into various tectonic plate boundaries. For hundreds of millions of years, the forces of plate tectonics have shaped the Earth as the huge plates that form the Earth's surface move slowly over, under, and slide past each other. Sometimes the movement is gradual, and at other instances, the plates are locked together, unable to release the steadily accumulating energy. When the accumulated energy grows strong enough, the plates break free causing the ground to shake. Most earthquakes occur at the boundaries where the plates meet; however, some earthquakes occur in the middle of plates. Once the pressure is suddenly released into the surroundings from any point within the crust (referred to as the focus), the seismic waves that originate from the focus eventually reach the surface of the crust at the point referred to as the epicentre (area on surface directly above focus) where they may cause a jerking movement of the crust. Although the movement of the crust itself can be damaging, the secondary effects are considered to be far more devastating and result in a large number of fatalities. Gr
The damage sustained by the city raised serious questions about the efficiency of the emergency response procedures that were in place. These secondary effects cause the greatest amount of damage especially in urban areas where there is a high population density as in the case of Los Angeles. It is generally thought that the respective plates are moving in opposite directions but the reality is that both plates are travelling in a north-western direction but the pacific plate is actually moving faster (0. The main lessons that were learnt from this devastating earthquake are to invoke more stringent planning regulations so that newer building would be more hazard resistant. It was seen that communication between top-level politicians and their crisis-management staff were inadequate resulting in a slow response to the emergency. Another factor that caused more deaths was the unsuitability of the underlying geology for building. Education also plays a crucial role in minimising the loss of life in the event of an earthquake, the authorities inform the general population of what actions to take that would minimise the danger that they are facing such as keeping emergency stocks of food and a first-aid kit as well as advice on what procedures to take in different scenarios such as being in a public place or on a highway. 2 struck Kobe, due to the shallow depth of the focus, this meant that the built up urban area was closer to it and therefore experienced severe ground shaking and soil liquefaction. The timing of the earthquake was considered to be fortunate since a large proportion of people were at home rather than outside which they would have been if the earthquake occurred later during the day. With enough accurate data, such as the distribution of fault lines in an area, it may be possible to be in a position where a future earthquake was not a complete surprise but it is not possible for this prediction to have a high level of precision due to the knowledge of the crust and processes within being incomplete. Communications between the Mexican capitol and the outside world were interrupted for several days. "« 11 major roads were seriously damaged, with some of these roads being 32km from the epicentre, some roads required over a month to be repaired thereby causing major disruption in an area where the population is predominantly dependant on cars. This strong shaking and the epicentre's location within the densely built-up San Fernando Valley were major contributors to the large losses to property. Liquefaction occurred which is where underlying sediment turns from solid to liquid due to the shaking caused by the earthquake, resulting in the ground subsiding in some places leading to the buildings above them collapsing.
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