Earthquakes
Shira Miller
Earthquakes are amazing natural disasters. An earthquake is a sudden and violent shaking of the ground. They are a big threat to people because they cause tsunamis, fires, and buildings to crumble on people. One of the biggest earthquakes was the great Chilean earthquake. The quake happened on May 22, 1960 near Valdiva (geology.com). The damage that the great Chilean earthquake caused (including tsunami damage) cost more than 500 million U.S. dollars (NOAA.gov). After this earthquake happened there were initially 717 people missing, 3,000 injured, and 5,700 deaths (NOAA.gov). This quake was one of the longest ever reported which is ten minutes. The foreshocks that the great Chilean earthquake caused sent people into the …show more content…
They happen in these countries because they are on fault lines (lists10.com). We measure earthquakes by the Richter scale. The Richter scale measures earthquakes by magnitude on a scale from 1-10. The magnitude is based on the size of the largest wave recorded on a seismometer. Seismometers are instruments that detect and record ground vibrations. The lower magnitude earthquakes are usually not felt by people and the higher magnitude earthquakes could be very destructive (Michigan Technological University). It’s hard to say how destructive an earthquake could be because it could be in a field or in a big city. People are still trying to predict earthquakes but they have an idea where earthquakes might occur but they are not sure when (planet science.com). People have seen animals behaving weirdly before an earthquake but we are still not sure if animals can actually predict them. Animals including rats and weasels have been seen running from their homes before a quake happens (nationalgeographic.com). We should keep trying to predict earthquakes because it could save many lives if we
Shira Miller
Earthquakes are amazing natural disasters. An earthquake is a sudden and violent shaking of the ground. They are a big threat to people because they cause tsunamis, fires, and buildings to crumble on people. One of the biggest earthquakes was the great Chilean earthquake. The quake happened on May 22, 1960 near Valdiva (geology.com). The damage that the great Chilean earthquake caused (including tsunami damage) cost more than 500 million U.S. dollars (NOAA.gov). After this earthquake happened there were initially 717 people missing, 3,000 injured, and 5,700 deaths (NOAA.gov). This quake was one of the longest ever reported which is ten minutes. The foreshocks that the great Chilean earthquake caused sent people into the …show more content…
They happen in these countries because they are on fault lines (lists10.com). We measure earthquakes by the Richter scale. The Richter scale measures earthquakes by magnitude on a scale from 1-10. The magnitude is based on the size of the largest wave recorded on a seismometer. Seismometers are instruments that detect and record ground vibrations. The lower magnitude earthquakes are usually not felt by people and the higher magnitude earthquakes could be very destructive (Michigan Technological University). It’s hard to say how destructive an earthquake could be because it could be in a field or in a big city. People are still trying to predict earthquakes but they have an idea where earthquakes might occur but they are not sure when (planet science.com). People have seen animals behaving weirdly before an earthquake but we are still not sure if animals can actually predict them. Animals including rats and weasels have been seen running from their homes before a quake happens (nationalgeographic.com). We should keep trying to predict earthquakes because it could save many lives if we