The Importance Of The First Earthquake In Canada

The San Andreas fault line has caused constant development nightmares for large urban areas such as San Francisco as well as the other cities built on top of it. Fault lines are one of the side effects of the earth’s tectonic plates shifting that can result in devastating earthquakes. Some of the most devastating earthquakes in our modern era have occurred along the San Andreas fault line due to a dense population. The most notable and destructive earthquake on the San Andreas fault line occurred in San Francisco in 1906. The reason this earthquake was so deadly was because of its magnitude and the city’s poor planning. This earthquake was a wakeup call for San Francisco and force the city to revolutionize its knowledge on earthquakes and how to protect their city. Today San Francisco is one of the most well prepared cities for an earthquake and has made great discoveries in earthquake safety measures. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco has drastically changed how the city has developed its zoning and building code policies, and its earthquake research.

California’s unique geography as a state makes it a very appealing place to call home. From the odd east to west transverse San Gabriel mountain ranges of the Los Angeles Basin, to the bumpy coastal ranges of the Bay Area, any person can find a compatible topographic terrain to their liking. California may seem to be the perfect place to live with its ideal climate and extensive geographic features. However, due to California’s location over the shifting continental plates, coupled with its enormous and also multiple faults, at any time this great state can fall victim to a seismic disaster. After examining evidence from both Rong-Gong Lin’s II Los Angeles Times article of April 18, 2016 and the NOVA videos Killer Quake ( 2006), Earthquake (2007), as well as Geologic Journey II – Episode 3 (The Pacific Rim: Americas) – Part 3 (San Francisco) and The Great San Francisco Earthquake (American Experience ~ 2005), one can take a comparative account of the three major earthquakes of California’s past. Although each earthquake was very devastating on is own; the Great Quake 0f 1906, the Loma Prieta quake of 1989, and the NorthRidge quake of 1994 each amounted to an extensive forfeiture of property and life. Each of these earthquakes created much suffering and loss. It is imperative for each citizen of this great state to understand the damage that a California quake can actually do and be prepared; for the threat of one always looms.

Kathryn Schulz has provided insight of the dangers of the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the lack of our countries preparedness. Seismologist has detected and proven probability of an enormous earthquake and/or tsunami that is over due to take place along the western coast line and yet the lack of preparedness is evident. Thousands of lives will be lost due to unpreparedness.

According to the research report, it will cause thousands of people die, towns submerged, buildings and bridges damaged once a huge earthquake and tsunamis happened on the Pacific Northwest area near American coast. And losses will be estimated at over 5 billion dollar US dollars. This shocking article was composed by seismic safety advisory committee in Oregon. According to materials, a super-strong earthquake once happened in A.D. 1700 Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) on the Pacific Northwest coast. There are some experts forecast that another super-huge earthquake will occur in the future. The report has shown that once the earthquake occurs, the regions from North California to British Columbia Coastal region will suffer devastation, cause heavy casualties. Water and electricity shortage issues definitely follow this heavy disaster, meanwhile, communication and heating system and gas supply will definitely broken off in the light of this earthquake. The CSZ is a 1,000 km long dipping fault that stretches from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in northern California. It separates the Juan de Fuca (Juan

• This earthquake may not have released all of the strain stored in its rocks next to the fault this reveals a potential earthquake in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the near future. The occurrence of the earthquake showed that the Earth did not exhaust all its strain and hence other earthquakes could be expected. However, the dates could not be predicted. The extent of the damage could have been much more devastating for the region, but with the earthquake occurring near the coast this made half of the felt area westward in the Pacific Ocean. The occurrence of aftershocks ten days later reinforces the unpredictability nature and hence makes Geology to be a study that is always evolving. In conclusion, the Earth and the study of cannot be exhausted as every natural occurrence provides a new puzzle to be solved.

Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.

“The Really Big One” is an article by Kathryn Schulz about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a fault line that runs seven hundred miles along the West Coast. It consists of two tectonic plates where one plate is sliding underneath another. In this case, the oceanic plate Juan de Fuca is sliding under the continental plate known as the North American plate. In her article, Schulz repeats the words of seismologists and scientists alike in the opinion that the Cascadia Subduction Zone is overdue for a magnitude 9.0 or higher earthquake and resulting tsunami. No one in the Pacific Northwest is prepared for it. With historical stories and examples from around the world Schulz warns of the damage to be done when the “Really Big One” finally makes itself known.

In recorded history, there have been 151 earthquakes in Nevada that were a magnitude of 3.5 or higher. As previously mentioned, the mountain ranges of Nevada are typically bound on one side or the other by a fault. There are quaternary faults that range in ages from less than 150 years to around 1.8 million years in existence. The property damage in Nevada from earthquakes was .2 million dollars between 1196 and 2014 based on information from department of energy for the state. As we studied in our textbook, earthquakes can by a number of things, such as shifting faults, or volcanic

California, and thus San Francisco, lies on the San Andres fault. The earthquake was caused when this fault suddenly shifted, with the rupture spreading for a total of 476 kilometres in northward and southward direction. “This fault is a continental transform fault, which forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate.” (1906 Earthquake: How long was the 1906 Crack? USGS Earthquake Hazards Program – Northern California, Accessed September 3, 2006). 1 The distance of the fault is of about 1300 kilometres, which runs the length of California from Cape Mendocino in the north to the Salton Sea in the south. Geologists have estimated that the fault moved as quickly as 2.74 kilometres per second. The San Andreas Fault, the source of this disaster, lies ten miles or deeper, at the meeting point of two tectonic plates, the Pacific and the North American. “The right-lateral strike-slip fault is characterized by mainly lateral motion in a dextral sense, where the western plate (Pacific plate) moves northward relative to the eastern plate (North American

A ‘hazard’ can be defined as a geophysical process operating within the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere or biosphere which could potentially lead to the loss of human life or property. However, an earthquake only becomes hazardous and therefore needs management if it occurs within close proximity to a vulnerable population. To some extent, any human settlement around the world situated close to or on top of an area of seismic activity is vulnerable. However, not all nations suffer equal devastation.

According to our textbook, it appears that an earthquake poses a greater threat to the Pacific Northwest than a volcano does. The text states that “California’s San Andreas Fault runs diagonally from southeast to northwest for nearly 800 miles.” In the lecture notes, it shows a diagram of the earthquakes that have occurred since 1977 along the Pacific coast, and the area is riddled with earthquakes. The likelihood of a massive scale earthquake occurring in the Pacific Northwest has been predicted; however, our lecture states that we are unable to predict an earthquake and are only able to gauge the probability of one occurring. Those who would be in harm’s way would be those people who fall within the Mercalli Intensity scale area, and those

Hickory Estates is a community where buildings in the 1920’s through the 1940’s where build very quickly. This community has sloping streets, and is located above the Clearwater River. This area has single-family homes constructed with multistory, and wood-framed built homes. The population of this community is 6412 residents. Due to the era the homes were built in, a typical problem is the connection between the wood frame and the foundation. The lack of steel reinforcement can cause major damages due to its weak points0. An earthquake can cause the wood frame to come off its foundation, foundation cracks, the chimney breaking at the roof line, and the cripple walls (the walls between the top of the foundation and the floor diaphragm) to crack. This is why Hickory Estates has 8% of homes that will be uninhabitable after an Intensity IX earthquake.

Earthquake Hazards occur when there are adverse effects on human activities. This can include surface faulting, ground shaking and liquefaction. In this essay I will be discussing the factors that affect earthquakes, whether human such as population density, urbanisation and earthquake mitigation or physical such as liquefaction, magnitude, landslides and proximity to the focus.

An analysis on the mechanism of destruction, impact, recovery, responses and future steps of the 2011 M6.3 Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

In the U.S. alone, the average annual cost to repair damage caused by earthquakes is $4.4 billion USD. The worldwide figure is much larger than this but unquantifiable due to poorer countries unable to accurately determine the amount of damage that occurred. Year after year the cost of damages barely fluctuates from these ridiculously high figures and money must be pumped into repairing the damage done. Although a lot is being learnt about earthquakes and the fact that humans are now normally able to be alerted in time to evacuate the area the earthquake will affect, there have been no breakthroughs into reducing the amount of damage earthquakes cause to buildings and infrastructures.