Tectonics - Earthquakes

Date: 1989 (October 17th)

Magnitude: 7.1 (M5.2 aftershock)

Time: 5:04 pm

Death toll: 62

Facts:

• 12,000 homeless and 3757 injured
• $6-10 billion damage
• The epicentre - Santa Cruz Mountains (100km south of San Francisco) 
• Marina District - suffered liquifaction and lateral spreading (because it was reclaimed marshland lagoon)
• The Cypress Structure collapsed killing 42 and injuring 400.

Date: 1994 (January 17th)

Magnitude: 6.7

Time: 04:31 am (slightly better as people were off roads etc)

Death toll: 57

Facts:

• Quake occured on a blind thrust fault
• 11,000 homes, 250 gas lines + 9 highway over passes destroyed
• 90,000 buildings in LA inspected after quake, with only 2% deemed unsafe to enter and 88% safe (others were partial access)
•  ^ this is because of well recieved building codes and stringent regulations, particularly on public buildings e.g schools + hospitals

Date: 1995 (January 17th)

Magnitude: 6.8

Time: 05:46 am

Death toll: 6,000

Facts:

• $150 billion damage
• 4,900 people died in traditional houses (these have lightweigh, open structures and heavy tiled roofs to help withstand typhoons etc)
• worst impact on the dock area as it was reclaimed from the sea and suffered liquifaction - $6.8 billion spent rebuilding here
• Quake travelled 15km from epicentre and there was an unknown fault under Kobe.
• Japan introduced the national disaster strategy afterwards

Date: 1988 (December 7th)

Magnitude: 6.9

Time: 11:41 am (which made it worse as people were at work, school and so on)

Death toll: 25,000

Facts:

• $3 billion damage
• quake was way more damaging than it should have been
• 70% of Soviet buildings were destroyed
• 100,000 still living in "temporary shelters" (metal crates) 9 years later
• 14 years later 12,000 families still in "temporary" housing
• a lot of US aid given, but people weren't seeing the benefits

Date: 1980

Magnitude: 6.9

Time: 7:35 pm

Death toll: 3,000

Facts:

• 143 villages were affected by the quake - but 1 year on 687 were affected (claimed for damage)
• People still live in the iron 'prefabs' - temporary shelter
• $30 billion was spent but only $26 million accounted for
• large amounts of corruption and the involvement of the Camorra
• Laviano - completely destroyed but only recieved 1 million whilst;
• Bisaccia - not damaged at all recieved 83 million + 6 billion went on a church

Date: 2009 (April 6th)

Magnitude: 6.3

Time: 3:32 am (could have been worse had it been church or working time)

Death toll: 308

Facts:

• population of 72,800 - it's a university city
• 44,000 left homeless
• ages 20 - 29 and 70+ were the dominant death groups
• 1/5 of the deaths occured in only 7 buildings
• $16 billion damage
• reinforced concrete didn't move well + columns collapsed
• old and religious buildings badly damaged

Date: 2005

Magnitude: 7.6

Death toll: 86,000

Facts:

• Landslides and rockfalls damaged roads and blocked relief
• 69,000 injured
• estimated 4 million homeless
• estimated 500,000 deaths through starvation
• $15 billion in economic losses
• Money for rebuilding will be given in July - after the 'working season'        (the rainy season starts in July)

Date: 2010 (January 12th)

Magnitude: 7.0

Time: 4:53 pm

Death toll: 316,000 (including deaths after the quake)

Facts:

• epicentre was15 miles from Port-au-Prince
• quake occured on a strike slip fault
• 1 million displaced people
• Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere - 72% earning less $2 a day + they recieved $1.1 billion relief aid
• reduction in violent crime but increase in sexual crime against women + children
• damage increased away from the fault as the waves were amplified in softer sediment.
• suffered lateral spreading

Date: 1993

Magnitude: 6.4

Time: 3:56 am

Death toll: 28,000

Facts:

• poor part of the country
• there was a strict cast structure (cast system)
• ^ lorries carrying blankets, tents etc hijacked by the upper classes
• cracks in society made larger by the quake
• damged could have easily been prevented - by wooden supports holding walls together.