Earthquakes

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Learning objectives

What are earthquakes and where do they occur?

What causes earthquakes?
How are earthquakes measured?
What is the difference between the epicentre and the
focus?
How can we limit the damage caused by earthquakes?
What is a tsunami?

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What are earthquakes?

Earthquakes are vibrations caused by earth
movements at plate boundaries and at major fault lines
(cracks in the earths surface).
They can occur at all four major plate boundaries but the
most severe earthquakes are normally found at
conservative and destructive plate boundaries.

conservative

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destructive

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Destructive plate boundary

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Conservative plate boundary

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Learning objectives

What are earthquakes and where do they occur?

What causes earthquakes?
How are earthquakes measured?
What is the difference between the epicentre and the
focus?
How can we limit the damage caused by earthquakes?
What is a tsunami?

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Why do earthquakes happen?

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Learning objectives

What are earthquakes and where do they occur?

What causes earthquakes?
How are earthquakes measured?
What is the difference between the epicentre and the
focus?
How can we limit the damage caused by earthquakes?
What is a tsunami?

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How can we measure earthquakes?

The Richter Scale
This measures the magnitude of a tremor (how
powerful it is) using an instrument called a
seismograph.
On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in
whole numbers and decimal fractions. Although
the Richter Scale has no upper limit, the largest
earthquake ever recorded was in 1960 in Chile. It
measured 9.5 on the Richter Scale.
It is a logarithmic scale which means that a size
6 on the Richter Scale is 10 times larger than a
size 5 and 100 times larger than a size 4.

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How can we measure earthquakes?

The Japanese earthquake in Kobe (September 1995)
measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale.
The Greek earthquake (June 1995) measured 6.2 on
the Richter Scale.

How many times greater was the Japanese

earthquake?
The Japanese earthquake was 10 times more
powerful than the Greek earthquake.

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A seismograph

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Mercalli Scale
The Mercalli scale
measures how
much damage is
caused by the
earthquake based
on observations.
Mercalli Scale

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It is measured on a
scale between 1
and 12.

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Activity
Design your own cartoon based on the Mercalli Scale
descriptions below.
I
Felt by almost no one.
II
Felt by very few people.
III
Tremor noticed by many, but they often do not realise it is an
earthquake.
IV
Felt indoors by many. Feels like a truck has struck the building.
V
Felt by everyone; many people are awakened. Swaying trees and
poles may be observed.
VI
Felt by all; many people run outdoors. Furniture is moved.
VII
Everyone runs outdoors. Poorly built structures considerably damaged.
Slight damage elsewhere.
VIII
Specially designed structures damaged slightly, others collapse.
IX
All buildings considerably damaged, many shift off foundations.
Noticeable cracks in the ground.
X
Many structures destroyed. Ground badly cracked.
XI
Almost all structures fall. Bridges wrecked.
XII
Total destruction. Waves seen on ground surfaces.

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Learning objectives

What are earthquakes and where do they occur?

What causes earthquakes?
How are earthquakes measured?
What is the difference between the epicentre and
the focus?
How can we limit the damage caused by earthquakes?
What is a tsunami?

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Epicentre and focus

The focus is the point at which the rock moves.
Seismic waves start at the focus.
The epicentre is directly above the focus on the earths surface.

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Epicentre and focus

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Epicentre and focus

Focus
Epicentre

An earthquake has occurred along this fault line.

Match the letter with the correct label.
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Epicentre and focus

An earthquake has occurred in this area.

Which area (the town or the forest) will receive the stronger
earthquake?
Which area will receive more damage from the earthquake?
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Epicentre and focus

If the epicentre of an earthquake is at A, which settlement

will be damaged the most? Give reasons for your answer.
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Learning objectives

What are earthquakes and where do they occur?

What causes earthquakes?
How are earthquakes measured?
What is the difference between the epicentre and the
focus?
How can we limit the damage caused by
earthquakes?
What is a tsunami?

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How can we limit earthquake damage?

predict

plan

water levels can rise in

wells and lakes because
of cracks in the rock

protect
a tiltmeter can check any
movement within the rocks

Predict

foreshocks before the main

quake can be detected by a
seismometer
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animals can act

strangely before the
earthquake

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How can we limit earthquake damage?

Plan and protect

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How can we limit earthquake damage?

Plan and protect
What should people pack in their emergency kit?
Design a poster reminding people what to do in an earthquake.

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Building regulations in earthquake zones

What other measures would make buildings less likely to

collapse in an earthquake?
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Buildings in earthquake zones

Which shape of building would be most earthquake proof?

Explain your answer.
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Building in earthquake zones

This is San Francisco in the USA.
San Francisco is near the San Andreas Fault and therefore
the city experiences earthquakes.
This skyscraper has been built to
be earthquake-proof.
Its wide base lowers the centre of
gravity of the building and makes
it more stable.

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Skys the limit!

This is Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand.
Sky Tower is the tallest tower (328 metres) in
the Southern Hemisphere. It weighs 21
million kilos (20,000 tonnes), which is
equivalent to 6,000 elephants!
Auckland is in an earthquake zone and so
the tower is constructed from a high
strength, high performance concrete.
Sky Tower's foundations go down more than
15 metres.

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Turkish earthquake (August 1999)

Fact File
(3 days after the
earthquake)
Dead : 10,059
Missing : up to 35,000
Injured : over 45,000

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Turkish earthquake (August 1999)

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Factors affecting the damage caused by earthquakes

size of the earthquake
emergency services
building design and construction
time of day
education
physical landscape
1) Which factor/s do you think is/are the most important?
2) Which factors are related to the wealth of the country?
3) How can the education of the population affect the
amount of damage caused by an earthquake?

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Factors affecting the damage caused by earthquakes

Read the following two slides.
Compare the earthquake in Los Angeles (94) with the
earthquake in Turkey (99) using the following table (you will
need an atlas to help with your research).

number of deaths

Los Angeles

Turkey

size of the earthquake

time of day
emergency services
building design and construction
education
GNP (wealth)
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Los Angeles earthquake (1/94)

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Turkey earthquake (8/99)

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Learning objectives

What are earthquakes and where do they occur?

What causes earthquakes?
How are earthquakes measured?
What is the difference between the epicentre and the
focus?
How can we limit the damage caused by earthquakes?
What is a tsunami?

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SE Asian tsunami December 2004

Tsunamis are tidal waves triggered by
underwater earthquakes. The rate of
travel of a tsunami is between 400600 miles per hour.

The tsunami in SE Asia occurred on the 26th December

2004. The earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter Scale
and occurred off the northern tip of Sumatra. The tsunami
spread across the Indian Ocean and hit coastal areas of Sri
Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and
Malaysia. The death toll is believed to be 290,000.

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Where was the tsunami?

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What caused the tsunami?

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