Human Geography - Mini case studies

It was along the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates (conservative margin- as the plates slide past each other friction caused an earthquake) ~ 3.5 million people lived there

Happened at 4.55pm   Magnitude of 7  shaking lasted 35-60 seconds

 Effects

• Communication systems damaged - relief work got complicated
• 316 000 dead; 300 000 injured
• 1 million homeless
• rescue and aid efforts were disrupted so less people were helped and treatment for survivors was held back by a lack of health care facilities
• 57 after shocks in 12 days
• One and a half million people living in camps including over 100,000 at critical risk from storms and flooding
• There are now 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris

Movement of the fault directly beneath the town moved and caused the earth quake (conservative margin).

happened at 4.30 am       magnitude of 6.6  shaking lasted about 40 seconds

Primary Effects

• more than 33 dead, more than 8 700 injured

Secondary Effects

• closed airport
  
• $20 billion damage
  
• thousands of aftershocks which collapses weakened housing by the main shock

Responses - they used heat detecting cameras and listening equipment to trace signs of life beneath the rubble.

- in the 'Democratic Republic of Congo' (country in Africa)

- Between to plate boundries being pulled apart by convection current (constructive or Divergent) Margin

Effects

• A river of lava (1000m wide) flowed into the city of Goma
• 14 villages destroyed
• 100 people dead, from poisonous gas and trapped in lava
• 12,500 homes destroyed
• 400 000 people evacuated - many became refugees
• Water and electricity supplies cut off by lava

Responses

• Charity relief efforts helped
• UN (united  nations) sent 260 tonnes of food
• World health organisations sent vaccinations out

- In the USA, in the state of Washington (NOT Washington DC)

- On a Destructive margin or Convergent margin (the subduction on where on plate goes under the other)

- When it errupted it permanently changed surrounding landscape

Effects

• Hot ash and gas destroyed forests and logging camps.
• 57 people killed, mainly by poisonous gases
• 250 homes destroyed, along with railways highways and 47 bridges
• ash blocked rivers - causing flooding and destroying fishing sites
• after the event, tourism increased generating more jobs and boosting local economy 

Responses

• Areas surrounding the volcano were made into  "red zones" of "blue zones" and acces to these zones were limited.