0011017 GG3037: Environmental Hazards and Remote Sensing

Select a specific environmental hazard and investigate/examine physical processes and

consequences, analyse/assess hazard impacts, and evaluate various mitigation strategies,
emergency management and policy issues.

This research project will be divided into four sections. Firstly I will introduce the theory of
plate tectonics and define what an earthquake is. I will then investigate and examine the
physical processes associated with this hazard and look at the consequences it produces. The
impacts will be analysed before looking at possible mitigation strategies, emergency
management and policy issues. Case studies from first and third world countries will be used
to highlight the theory and comparisons will be made between the two.

An earthquake can be defined as; “Ground shaking caused by the sudden release of
accumulated strain by an abrupt shift of rock along a fracture in the Earth or by volcanic or
magmatic activity, or other sudden stress changes in the Earth..” (USGS, 2010).

Earthquakes generally occur at plate boundaries where two plates meet (Figure 1). The
nature of these plate boundaries is characterised by the movement of each plate in relation
to the other. The majority of earthquakes occur where oceanic crust meets continental crust,
predominantly in the Pacific Ring of Fire where 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur
(USGS, 2009) with the exception of mid-oceanic ridges, where many earthquakes can occur
in a small area in a short space of time, ‘swarms’ (Bolt, 1999: 31).

There are four distinct type of plate margin: constructive margins are found where two
plates diverge and upwelling magma rises to the surface and cools to form igneous rock. The
Mid-Atlantic Ridge serves as a prime example for this boundary. Conservative boundaries
are found where plates slide past one another and crust is neither created nor destroyed.
This margin is primarily associated with earthquakes as friction builds up over time as the
plates ‘stick’ together. The release of pressure can result in a severe earthquake, e.g. along
the San Andreas Fault. Destructive margins are found where one plate is subducted under
another, for example, Juan de Fuca under the North American Plate. The final plate boundary
is a collision boundary, which is where two plates collide head on and fold up at the edges, as
seen in the Himalayas.

When the strain becomes too great, primarily along conservative margins where plates
‘stick’ together, and the elastic limit is reached, the rock will rupture back to an unstrained
position, in the form of an earthquake, releasing its energy in the form of seismic waves. Eiby
(1967: 97) describes the build up of energy like winding up a spring and the earthquake
being like a coiled spring being let go.

The point in the Earth’s crust where the pressure is released is referred to as the focus,
whilst the point directly above this is the epicentre. Shallow focus earthquakes (<70km
deep) are the most destructive, with a few exceptions, because the energy they release has
little time to dissipate before reaching the surface (Monroe & Wicander, 2008: 193).
Unfortunately, shallow focus earthquakes are more common and are associated with
conservative plate margins, whilst deep focus earthquakes are characteristic of subduction
margins.

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Figure 1: The Earth’s major tectonic plates and their direction of movement in relation
to one another.

Source: The Geography Site (2006)

There are two types of seismic waves that can be further subdivided. Body waves (P + S) are
the less dramatic of the two but can be very useful for analyzing the earth’s interior
structure, whereas surface waves (R+L) cause the most significant levels of damage, despite
travelling slower (Garrison, 2007: 61). P-waves (pressure), also known as compressional
waves, are initiated when rock is pushed/pulled forwards and backwards and are capable of
travelling through solids, liquids and gases. S-waves (secondary) are the second fastest after
pressure waves but are only capable of travelling through solids. They are shear waves that
move material perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving. By contrast, a shear wave
is an example of a transverse wave where as P waves are longitudinal.

Figure 2: Body waves (P and S)

Source: Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (2002)

When P and S waves reach the surface, a number of them are converted into surface waves;
Rayleigh and Love waves (R+L), which appear on seismographs after body waves but result

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in more severe ground movements and therefore cause the most damage. They usually
travel just below or on the ground’s surface whilst ‘rolling’ and moving side-to-side (Figure
3) and are capable of travelling round the globe due to low decay rates (Stein, 2003: 87).

Figure 3: Surface waves (L and R)

Source: Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (2002)

Mandl (2000: 101) describes faults as ‘elongated zones of concentrated shearing, parallel to
which the adjacent rocks have been offset’. Strike-slip faulting occurs when two blocks move
horizontally in relation to one another along a roughly vertical fracture. Dip-slip faults are
inclined fractures where the blocks have mostly shifted vertically; if the rock mass above an
inclined fault moves down, the fault is termed normal, where as if the rock above the fault
moves up, the fault is termed thrust.

Intraplate earthquakes are those that occur away from plate boundaries and are caused by
stresses placed upon the plate from neighbouring plates or by sedimentary
loading/unloading (deglaciation). These stresses may be sufficient enough to cause failure
along existing fault planes, giving rise to intraplate earthquakes. Building dams and
henceforth creating resevoirs can lead to severe intraplate earthquakes such as the largest
RTS related 6.3M earthquake that hit Koyna, India, in 1967. Gupta (2002) states how there
are 90 identified sites of earthquakes that have been triggered by the infilling of large
reservoirs. Jauhari (1999: 12) argues, “ When the pressure of the water in the rocks increases,
it acts to lubricate faults which are already under tectonic strain, but are prevented from
slipping by the friction of the rock surfaces.” Gupta (2002) believes the depth of reservoirs is
the most important factor in RTS, with the US commission on Large Dams stating more
specifically that RTS needs to be considered for dams deeper than 80m-100m. Many
engineers are reluctant to consider RTS implications when designing dams as they oppose
the fact that RTS even exists, and believe accounting for RTS implications will add time and
costs to their projects.

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The effects of an earthquake are influenced by the location of the epicentre and the
magnitude on the Richter scale, with the most devastating earthquakes being linked to
earthquakes of a high magnitude that have epicentres close to urban hubs.

Shaking and ground rupture are the main consequences of an earthquake, resulting in more
or less damage to buildings and other rigid structures. The amplitude and duration of the
earthquake will increase in poorly unconsolidated sediments and ultimately lead to higher
levels of damage (Figure 4). This can lead to landslides and avalanches that can bury entire
villages, as earth material is rapidly transported downslope. The ground shaking associated
with earthquakes can loosen sediments, seen during the Mt Huascaran landslide in Peru on
the 31 May, 1970, which initiated a gigantic landslide that killed 67,000 people.

Fire is the second largest killer after building collapses (Stein, 2003: 15) as seen during the
San Francisco earthquake (1906), when 900 lives were lost (NFPA, 1991) as a result of the
fires which burned most of the city. More recently in Los Angeles, California, the 1994
Northridge earthquake (M6.7), 110 earthquake related-fires were reported in the time
between 4:31 am (time of main shock) and midnight (Scawthorn et al. 1998). Fires break out
after electrical power cables and gas lines are damaged and can become amplified if water
manes are also damaged during the earthquake and consequently water pressure is lost.

Figure 4: Illustration showing how seismic intensity increases in poorly consolidated

material

Source: Meng (2010)

Soil liquefaction occurs when, due to shaking, water saturated granular material (such as
silts and sands) temporarily loses its strength and transforms from a solid to a liquid. It is
possible soil liquefaction may cause solid structures like buildings and bridges, to tilt or sink
into liquefied deposits. Major property damage occurred due to soil liquefaction during the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay area of California. The main
area affected by soil liquefaction was the Marina District, 60 miles from the epicentre of the
earthquake. This was because the soil had been used to create land on the waterfront, and
was highly susceptible to liquefaction.

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Impacts can be broken down into: short-term (immediate) and long term. They can be social,
economic and environmental and will ultimately depend to a large extent on the wealth and
level of development of the area affected. Social impacts on a short-term time-scale consist of
immediate loss of human life and injuries. Homes may be destroyed making people homeless
and leading to large amounts of environmental refugees, which may be re-housed if the
funding is available. Transport and communication links may be disrupted which can have
detrimental consequences on rescue efforts. Burst water pipes can contaminate drinking
water and over a longer time-period can lead to the spread of disease. Economic impacts
that occur imminently include the destruction of shops and businesses, which may result in
looting taking, place, as seen in Chile, 2010. Trading becomes difficult due to damaged
transport links. On a longer time-scale, the cost of rebuilding urban settlements can be very
expensive which often results in investments being focused on repairing original buildings.
Income to the region may decrease. Environmental impacts on a short-term time-scale
comprise of fires, landslides and tsunamis. Each of the aforementioned impacts can destroy
human and environmental landmarks.

Unfortunately, earthquakes are not easily predicted and therefore forecasting when the next
quake might happen is very difficult. Most seismically active areas use probabilities to
describe the likelihood of a region experiencing a large earthquake over a given time frame.
For example seismic risk maps draw on data of previous earthquakes in an area to
determine how likely it is that area is to experience an earthquake in the foreseeable future.

Earthquake prediction programs have been set up by governments in the U.S, Russia, Japan
and China, which monitor major fault zones and study the behavior of rocks before, during
and after an earthquake. However, it is not 100% accurate; the Chinese failed to predict the
1976 Tangshan earthquake and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which killed 242,000 and
80,000 people respectively.

However, prediction as a technique for mitigation has its limitations; it is very expensive and
often not accurate to the year or month. The best mitigation strategies are ones that try to
limit the physical damage and human loss through a series of education programs to inform
people how to respond when an earthquake hits, and strict building policies that highlight
the need for structurally sound homes and office blocks, particularly in built up high rise
cities. However, these too come at a price and very often only wealthier Western states can
afford to protect their citizens in this way. The remainder of the essay will focus on two
specific earthquake case studies from an MEDC and an LEDC; comparing effects, impacts and
responses.

Kobe, is the sixth largest city of Japan, which was hit by largest Japanese earthquake since
1923 hit the city on 17 January 1995 at 5:46am, whilst most people were sleeping or making
breakfast. “The earthquake was officially named the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earth- quake,
but it is better known as the 1995 Kobe earthquake.” (Katayama, 2006:12) It was triggered
by the subduction of the Philippine Sea plate under the Eurasian plate (Figure 6) and
occurred along a fault known as the Median Tectonic Line, which lies immediately south of
Osaka Bay. The epicentre was only 20km south-west of Kobe.

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Figure 5: The plate interactions involved in the Kobe earthquake with Kobe marked
on the map in relation to Tokyo

Source: GeoResources (2002)

The worst hit area was a section of the central part of the city measuring 5km x 20km,
alongside the main docks and port because of the soft rocks underlying the surface which
underwent liquefaction. The port itself was built on reclaimed land and therefore saw the
most intense liquefaction, which consequently lead to large cranes falling into the sea.
More than 300 fires were ignited immediately after the earthquake hit as a result of gas
explosions initiated by the vigorous ground shaking. The fires, fuelled by dry debris and
whipped up by icy conditions, proved to be quite a challenge to the fire services as 75% of
water supplies had been severely damaged and emergency access routes all over the city had
been cut off (Figure 6).

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake resulted in 6,434 deaths and $102.5 billion of damage,
making it the most expensive modern earthquake. It causes significant economic and
physical damage as infrastructure was severely destroyed, including major highways in and
out of the city, including the Shinkansen overpass. The houses that collapsed were typically
old with heavy mud tiled roofs and timber frames that were used to insulated the properties
in summer and protect the inhabitants from typhoons in autumn. However, the violent
seismic shaking of the earthquake caused these weak materials to collapse (Otani, 1999: 4).
In the aftermath, 316000 people were left homeless and had to move into temporary
accommodation.

After several detrimental hazard events, the government of Japan invested heavily in risk
and vulnerability assessments within the public and private sectors with the help of
scientific organizations, research institutes and universities to understand disaster impacts.
The Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Research Center (EDM) was set up in 1998. According
to the EDM website (2006) it’s main goals are; firstly, to enhance the safety and resiliency of
the medical system, secondly; to develop IT-based tools for disaster mitigation, and finally to
build an international disaster-related knowledge dissemination system. The previous
Building Standards Law of 1950 was amended post Kobe earthquake to the Act for the
Promotion of Earthquake Proof Retrofitting for Buildings (1995) to ensure better building

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regulation and the national government expenditure for disaster risk reduction is now 5% of
the general budget.

The government also set up the Disaster Risk Reduction Information Sharing Platform,
which uses a range of different communications including radio, TV, Internet and mobile
phones to keep the public informed of impending hazards. There is also a widespread
education, awareness program that consists of mock drills and includes a National
Prevention Day on Sept 1, which occurs during National Disaster Prevention Week.

Figure 6: Primary effects of the Kobe earthquake, 1995.

Source: Lewis (2007)

In comparison, the Haiti earthquake (2010) had a lower magnitude but much more
devastating impacts as Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere with more
than 80% of its population lives below the poverty line (Engebawy, 2010) and no disaster
mitigation or prevention strategy.

The island of Haiti was the site of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 12 th January 2010 at 16.53.
The focus was very shallow at only 6.2 miles deep, whilst the epicentre was only 16 miles,
from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital and close to the town of Léogâ ne. The earthquake
occurred at a conservative plate margin, where the North American and Caribbean plates
were sliding past one another in an east-west direction. The event occurred on the
Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system in southern Haiti, which is an east-west trending
left-lateral strike slip fault (Engebawy, 2010) and was the first major earthquake since 1751,
which meant many Haitians were previously unaware that they lived along a seismically
active fault line.

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Figure 7: Map of Haiti with the epicentre marked

Source: Mills (2010)

The earthquake claimed the lives of at least 233,000 people, making it the fifth most
powerful earthquake on record, and more deadly than the Asian Tsunami. The International
Federation of the Red Cross reported that one third of Haiti’s nine million population needed
medical attention.

The densely populated capital city of Port-au-Prince suffered severe damage, largely due to
the collapse of thousands of buildings (Figure 8), which, had been constructed in a
haphazard fashion, as building regulations had not been enforced. Unreinforced masonry
and nonductile reinforced concrete buildings were found in abundance among the debris,
building practices that are banned in the wealthier state of California (Engebawy, 2010).
Some of the newer buildings had been built to withstand the vertical force exerted by
hurricanes, but the lateral force associated with earthquakes was neglected (Engebawy,
2010) so these too disintegrated or collapsed.

The Haitian government have taken certain measures to prepare for hurricanes as these hit
the island frequently, but no efforts had been put into earthquake preparedness. Haiti should
have been better prepared; especially considering Dixon et al (1998) acknowledged stress
was building up fast and an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 could happen at any time and Mann
et al (2008) stated at the Caribbean Geological conference that an earthquake was eminent.
These observations came from GPS observations of plates and were presented to the Haitian
authorities. However, the lack of mitigation strategies are due to the fact that earthquakes,
are a rare event, the previous one being almost three hundred years prior, and most
importantly the country does not have the financial resources to implement various
mitigation schemes, particularly when money is desperately needed to fund more immediate
social programs such as health care and education.

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Figure 8: Building destruction on a hill slope in Haiti.

Source: Echo (2010)

From these examples, it has been shown that the magnitude of an earthquake is not
paramount in understanding the social impacts it will cause. More importantly as
geographers, we are aware that place, particularly in the context of hazards; define the
physical impacts as well as any human or economic losses. While the physical processes
involved in triggering an earthquake have been formulated to specific regions; the epicentre,
and focus, and movements; body and surface waves, what cannot be translated across
borders is the social impacts earthquakes have. Third world countries such as Haiti are more
vulnerable due to their lack of investment in mitigation programs, in dealing with hazards
during the aftermath and are more vulnerable to hazards themselves, as poor quality
building collapse stems from underlying poverty and lack of investment. In this essay I have
shown the physical theories that cause earthquakes as well as the component parts to this
natural hazards. Through my investigation of this hazard I have identified its major
consequences, in physical, human and economic impacts and highlighted this through two
detailed case studies: Kobe and Haiti. Through their comparison the inequalities in global
development has also been analysed as a cause for enhancing the impacts of this natural
hazard.

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