How often do earthquakes happen and why?

                                             Blogpost by: Hayden-Leigh

Earthquakes, A result of the tectonic plates rubbing together are causing entire cities to get destroyed. Earthquake activity rate has increased  in the past couple hundred years, will it slow down? Or will it get worse?

                                  

www.bbc.co.uk

There several million earthquakes in  a year and a few of them are deadly, but unfortunately that few has turned into hundreds of deadly earthquakes a year.

www.fronne.com

Earthquake activity has been increasing since the 1860’s and scientist say it does not mean that a huge is coming, but they know one is. These scientist say the earthquake activity increasing is a normal happening and it will slow down eventually.

www.earth.webecs.co.uk

So now you should know our Earthquake activity is just up to our tectonic plates mood, and earthquakes will slow down eventually, whether it’s in our lifetime or not.

Websites :

wikepedia (what are Earthquakes?)

https://www.reference.com/science/many-earthquakes-occur-day-dc85c7e2ea57907

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/facts.php

What Would Happen if an Earthquake was a Magnitude of 9.5 or Higher?

Blogged by; Sage and Alexa

The largest earthquake in America was a 7.8 in San Francisco, killing 3000. It resulted in fire and was the deadliest in the US. The largest earthquake in history was a 6.5, in  Shensi,China killing 83,000! The largest ever earthquake was a 9.5 in Chile in 1960, leaving 1,655 killed.

But what would happen if something higher than a magnitude of 9.5 occurred? Our research showed that a 10.5 earthquake would result in the obliteration of humanity. Therefore anything higher than a 9.5 is extremely unlikely and would result in mass death.http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/megaqk_facts_fantasy.php

Why Were Great Cities Built In Quake Zone

Blogged by: Adam

Have you ever wondered why people would build a great city in quake zone? Well there were actually 11. Those great cities were Rome, Corinth, Mycenae, Jurasalem, Ur, Hastinapura, Memphis and Zhengzhou. But why were they built there you might wonder, that’s what we are going to find out. One of the main reasons that those cities were built there is because at the time they didn’t know that they were quake zones or the fact that by the time that the earthquake happens Humans won’t be around to see it, that’s not exactly true though because the question isn’t will it happen, it’s when will it happen. So the earthquakes can happen at any time. Some cities have even prepared for the quakes such as Tokyo, they have signs all over the city saying this way in case of earthquakes and they have escape routes all over the place for tsunamis and earthquakes. There are already cities that are being abandoned because they know that the city will be destroyed any time soon, That’s not a good thing because some places are over populated and if they all get destroyed they will have to find room in other countries and it will get way too crowded.

Images from: http://comps.canstockphoto.com/can-stock-photo_csp5263782.jpg
http://comps.canstockphoto.com/can-stock-photo_csp5263782.jpg
https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/italy_quake-12.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all

What is the largest earthquake ever measured?

Where was it?

Blogged by: Rezso

Grade 9

Answer

The largest earthquake ever measured was The Great Chilean Earthquake in Chile near Valdivia. This earthquake occurred on May 22 1960 at 3:11pm. This massive earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5 and lasted 11 ~ 13 minutes. 178 Gigatons of energy was dispersed which is the equivalent of 1000 atom bombs. Over 6,000 people were killed and over $1 billion in damage was estimated. A stunning fact is that the quake was so powerful that people over 650 km away in Hawaii felt it. Valdivia, Chile, is located in a region called Los Ríos which is along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The city has a population of 155,000. The main economic activities are beer production and forestry. The city also has multiple Universities and Colleges like The Austral University of Chile.

That is my inquiry question and answer for my earthquake assignment.

Pictures: http://www.en.wikipedia.org

Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

☯

By:David.B & Amanda.P & Brooke.C

All humans and animals detect S waves from an earthquake,but animals can detect smaller P waves that travel faster than the S waves. We have also discovered that animals also detect an earthquake weeks or seconds before it happens.

Our group has decided to go further with this discovery about animal predictions of earthquakes.

http://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/3/2/4/16324.jpg?v=1

Humans cannot detect the smaller P waves admitted from earthquakes but most animals can detect the P waves. Since P waves travel much faster than the more destructive and slower S waves, animals can detect  and leave their their home and go to safety before the S waves come.

Rats, weasels, snakes and centipedes have left their homes and seeked shelter somewhere else several days before the destructive Earthquake. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stopped laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a hurry have been reported.

Scientists had no clue why and how they were detecting earthquakes several days before it happened but now they know how. Scientists detected disturbances in ionosphere in the earth’s atmosphere which contain high amounts of concentration of ions and free electrons and is able to reflect radio waves which started two weeks before the earthquake.

Positive airborne ions, which are known to be generated in large numbers at the Earth’s surface when rocks deep below are subjected to increasing stresses during the build-up to an Earthquake. Positive ions in the air lead to unpleasant side effects in animals and humans, such as serotonin syndrome.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Serotonin-Spartan-HF-based-on-xtal-3D-balls-web.png

This is caused by an increase in serotonin levels in the bloodstream, and can lead to symptoms such as restlessness, agitation, hyperactivity and confusion. They expected the injection of positive airborne ions into the Earth’s atmosphere before seismic activity to have a heavy effect on mammals and birds, In particular those living on the ground and in burrows

How big are Earthquakes?

By: Andrew, Mitch, and Ryan

Earthquakes are a part of our world. They happen every year and can cause great damage. But how big is the average earthquake?

Well, on average there are about 1500 earthquakes happening each year since 1990. Most of these earthquakes measure between 5.0 and 7.9. There are said to be millions of earthquakes happening all over the world each year but the happen in remote areas, or do not reach 5.0 on the richer scale.

Earthquake occurring in a densely populated area.

That being said the most common earthquakes that occur each year reach a magnitude of 5.0 to 5.9. An earthquake of this size, can be felt shaking, but is not powerful enough to cause major damage to buildings, landforms, and structures.

Earthquakes can happen anywhere anytime, and are caused by the friction of tectonic plates colliding. There are many different kinds of earthquakes, and these are determined by how the plates collide with each other. If one of the plates slips below the other it is called a normal fault. If a plate pushes above the other it is called a reverse fault. Finally, if two plates rub against each other sideways, it is called a strike slip.

Diagram of a strike slip fault. During the earthquake, the ground slides as the plates moves past each other.

The type of fault that causes the most damage is the strike slip fault. These faults are known to be able to cause size 8.0 earthquakes. Strike slip faults are found all over the world and some of the most famous faults are strike slip. The San Andreas fault found on the west coast of North America is a strike slip fault. Other well known strike slip faults include the alpine fault, the Denali fault, and the great glen fault.

Photos from:

Www.IMDb.org

Www.conservation.ca.gov

What To Do During An Earthquake!

By: Chloe

Last week our geography class watched a video about earthquakes. After watching this video it left us questioning many things. One particular question that had left me puzzled was “what do you do during an earthquake?” So after a little bit of research I have compiled a list from a bunch of different resources.

Before an earthquake make sure to have a battery operated flashlight, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and extra batteries. You also should learn to shut off the main gas, electricity and water. Secure all heavy objects or anything that might topple over. Following these steps will assure better results.

During an earthquake drop, cover and hold on. Remember to stay calm and stay put! Most injuries occur from trying to leave a building or moving to another room. Drop to the ground, take cover by getting under a sturdy object and hold on until the shaking stops. If there is no sturdy object near you cover your face and head with your arms and crouch down by a corner of the building. Cover your head and neck until the shaking stops. These few steps will help ensure your safety.

http://www.larchmontbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/shakeout2.jpg

If you are outdoors during an earthquake stay outdoors do not try to get back into the building, instead go into an open area away from the buildings so that flying debris won’t  injure you. If you happen to be in a crowded place take cover somewhere you won’t get trampled on by people running.

Things to avoid during an earthquake are doorways because they most likely will fall down, windows, bookcases, tall furniture, light fixtures, elevators and downed power lines.

After the earthquake make sure to check your home for structural  damage and stay away from chimneys and bricks in case they are broken. Do not light matches or turn on any lights.

Photos from: http://answersafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Earthquake-e1431700006526.jpg
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2015/4/nepalquake12.jpg

Will We Ever Be Able To Predict Earthquakes?

Blog by:Ben,Brayden and Markus

  Scientists have tried many different things to predict earthquakes but none of have been successful so far. They have a pretty good idea of when they will hit but they still don’t have a geat idea of when it’ll happen.

  However the probability of a future earthquake happening can be calculated, based 0n the data that scientist have collected, they predicted that 30yrs frm now San Francisco will have a major earthquake, about 67% sure that it will be likely to happen.

  We have found that we can test for vibration underneath the earth’s surface and find it but only moments before and earthquake will actually happen, not giving us enough time to escape, scientist have been drilling down about 800ft to test the vibration of the ground, that way they can somewhat predict if one will happen they just don’t know when it will happen or how big it will be.

photo from www.everythingselectric.com

Here are some different ways scientist predict earthquakes

Earthquakes Prediction methods

-unusual animal behavior

-water level in wells

-seismic electric signals

-radon emission

-foreshocks or minor shocks before a major earthquake

-statistical probability

-putting lazzers across a fault to detect any small movements

-monitoring water levels

  It’s very unlikely that they will ever be able to predict them, we have tried multiple ways but none have been successful scientists used to think we were getting close to being able to predict exactly when a quake will happen but they now know it will be a long time until we will know when they will happen.

What is the Richter scale and how does it work?

Blogged by:Collier

The Richter scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology as a mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes. The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Earthquake_Richter_Scale.jpg

For an example the earth quake in Haiti in 2010 was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/haiti_01_13/h38_21698163.jpg

I found this inquiry very fun to do and learn how about how they actually measure the size of earthquakes.

DID YOU EVER THINK THERE WERE ADVANTAGES TO BUILDING YOUR HOME ON A FAULT LINE?

Blogged by: Cole, Nicholas, Jess

    A lot of people researching earthquakes and fault lines ask the question, “why do people continue to build their homes near fault lines?” They don't see the advantages that the fault lines create. For example the soil near fault lines is very fertile from the years of molten rock, magma, and ash. This makes the soil very easy to farm, maintaining less expensive life.

www.alarabiya.net

Other advantages of living on fault lines are that the land may be cheaper because you are endangering yourself and others by living there. For hundreds of years families have built on fire, hurricane, and tsunami active land so why does building on a fault line make it such a big deal!?

Some of the disadvantages of living on a fault lines are:

There are many disadvantages of living on a fault line including. It is very dangerous for yourself and others living with you. Any earthquakes that occur will impact your home with full force, damaging your home over time. This cracks the foundation and makes your home an unsafe place to live. Magma may also erupt from the earth’s surface burning anything nearby. It ruins homes and crops, it takes many years to rebuild.

After reading advantages and disadvantages of living on a fault line, where would you prefer to live?

The QUAKES

Blogged by: Maya

As a grade 9 student in geography i have decided to explore the topic of fault lines and why people build cities over/by them as well as why people decide to move their

Fault lines:

If you are wondering what a fault line is, it’s a rock surface or ground that traces the geological “border” there are many fault lines around the earth , some of the infamous ones are

• The ring of fire
• 

http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55a811772acae72d5f8b6c88-1297-783/screen%20shot%202015-07-16%20at%204.13.10%20pm.png

• The san andreas fault

And many more.

    Fault lines tend to be the earthquake danger zone because that's where the quakes originate.

Why do people build cities on fault lines ?

A lot of  the time the fault lines are:

- fertile

- have lots of natural resources  such as:

    -fossil fuels

    -ore deposits

- for the people that live their,Great weather

I also believe that when the city or town was first being built that the “owner” did not know what a fault line is or did not know that one was there, and because the land was so fertile it was a good spot to start a population.

Why don't they move from the city, or the city itself ?

    People in the city normally think that the quake won't happen in their time, so they are not that worried. As i read through comments on several sites, people say that quakes are not such a big deal, compared to serial killers, traffic accidents ...etc…

    The government doesn't move the cities on the fault lines because it costs less to fix the initial damage of the quake than to move the city to a new location.

    

    I found this topic on, why people build cities on fault lines interesting and hope you do to, and that you find what you are looking for, whatever it may be.

Thank you for reading!

Where Else In the World are Refugees Coming From?

By: Tristin

What is a Refugee?

“A refugee is a person who has fled their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster”.

The current refugee crisis is worldwide, although the reportage has focused heavily on the refugees coming into Europe and especially on Syrian refugees. There are 21 million refugees currently all over the world this is a HUGE amount of people who have fled their home countries. Once a refugee has fled their home country they must also find somewhere they can live safely. The amount and severity of these refugees is unequalled compared to the amount of refugees in World War ll.

Below in the chart you can clearly see the amounts of refugees and migrants compared from 2014 to 2015 each month the number rising.

Retrieved from: http://www.vox.com/2015/9/9/9290985/refugee-crisis-europe-syrian

Retrieved from: http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/12/5683d0b56/million-sea-arrivals-reach-europe-2015.html

The Refugee Crisis

Globally there are 19 million refugees. When we talk about the global refugee crisis, we also talk about how nations fail refugees. Most refugees go through at least one of the four of the following steps, many all of them.

Step One:

Persecution: “hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs”.

Persecution causes people to flee their home. Political persecution internal war currently in Syria and in Afghanistan. There are also less known wars or conflicts in Somalia, Libya, Central America, Nigeria, and Pakistan etc.

Step Two:

Once refugees are forced from their homes they often end up in refugee camps. The camps are unsafe, crowded and have poor living conditions. Camps keep families stuck in limbo for generations.

Retrieved from: http://www.gettyimages.ca/event/increased-numbers-of-migrants-held-at-serbian-hungarian-border-655298993?#migrants-queue-for-food-being-distributed-from-a-doorway-in-the-to-picture-id576700478

Step Three:

Refugees often flee the camps and seek out safety in Europe. The journey is terrifying and dangerous. Families pay thousands of dollars to traffickers for boat trips to Europe. Many people die by drowning.

Retrieved from: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/tag/malta/

Step Four:

Once refugees get off the boats in Europe they face squalid and overcrowded camps in Greece. The Greek population is hostile to the refugees and want them gone and resettled elsewhere. The refugees are afraid of being deported. The conditions in refugee camps in other locations are the same as they are in Greece.

The last step of the refugee crisis is not only funding, but also political issues between the EU countries. The countries have to reach an agreement as to how many refugees each country will take in. Until then the refugees will continue to suffer.

During 2014-15 there were approximately 32,000 people fleeing their countries of origin daily. Most of them come from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Lebanon. More than half of the refugees are from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia.

In the past 33 years 2,56 million people fled Afghanistan. In 2013 alone 2,47 million fled from Syria and the number of refugees continue to grow. The refugees fleeing from Somali remain stable at approximately 1,1 million.

Where do Refugees Come From?

Afghanistan	2,556,522
Syria	2,468,341
Rest of the World	1,551,937
Somalia	1,121,692
Sudan	649,285
Congo DR	499,499
Myanmar	479,591
Iraq	401,362
Columbia	396,614
Vietnam	314,069
Eritrea	307,966
Central Africa	252,829
China	195,109
Mali	152,833
Sri Lanka	123,050
W Sahara	116,501
South Sudan	114,451

Where Are the Refugees Going?

Pakistan has 1,6 million refugees mostly from Afghanistan. For its population Lebanon has more refugees than any other country. Since 2011 Syrian refugees have been arriving in Lebanon in huge numbers. If we break down refugees coming into countries by continents Asia has 3,5 million, Middle East has 2,6 million, Europe has 1,8 million, and America has 800,000.

Countries Refugees are Living In

Rest of the World	1,640,615	South Sudan	229,587
Pakistan	1,616,495	Uganda	220,538
Iran	857,352	Venezuela	204,291
Lebanon	856,529	India	188,371
Jordan	641,894	Germany	187,505
Turkey	609,911	Canada	160,327
Kenya	534,920	Sudan	159,838
Chad	434,461	Syria	149,266
Ethiopia	433,923	Thailand	136,474
China	301,045	United Kingdom	125,991
USA	263,618	Ecuador	123,051
Iraq	246,294	Cameroon	114,729
Yemen	241,276	Sweden	114,122
France	232,487	Congo DR	113,357
Bangladesh	231,137	Tanzania	109,099
Egypt	230,055