Earthquakes & Society

Earthquakes & Society
Objectives
• Discuss factors that affect the amount of
damage done by an earthquake.
• Explain some of the factors considered in
earthquake probability studies.
• Define seismic gaps.
Vocabulary
– tsunami
– seismic gap
Some Earthquake Hazards
• The damage produced by an earthquake
is directly related to the strength or quality
of the structures involved.
• The most severe damage occurs to
unreinforced buildings made of stone,
concrete, or other brittle building materials.
• Wooden structures and many modern
high-rise, steel-frame buildings sustain
little damage during an earthquake.
Structural Failure San Francisco 1906 Earthquake
– In many earthquake-prone areas, buildings are
destroyed as the ground beneath them shakes.
– Pancaking” occurs when
the supporting walls of the
ground floor fail, causing
the upper floors to fall and
collapse as they hit lower
floors.
– When shaking caused by a quake has the same period
of vibration as the natural sway of a building, they will
sway violently.
• The natural sway of a building is related to
height; longer waves affect taller buildings and
shorter waves affect shorter buildings.
Land and Soil Failure
– Earthquakes may trigger massive landslides in
sloping areas.
– In areas with fluid-saturated sand, seismic vibrations may cause subsurface materials to liquefy and behave like quicksand.
Soil Failure
The Soil Liquefaction can
cause:
•Sink Holes
•Houses to fall over and sink
•Underground pipes can rise
to the surface
Fault Scarps
– Fault scarps are areas of

great vertical offset
where the fault
intersects the ground
surface.
TSUNAMIS
Large Ocean Wave generated by vertical

motions of the seafloor during an
earthquake
Artists concept
Tsunami FACTS
• They move very quickly through the water

and are rarely noticed.
• When they get to shallow water, however,
they can become huge cascading waves.
• Big tsunamis can grow up to 100 feet tall
and even 10-20 ft. tsunamis can be
dangerous.
Seismic Risk
• The probability of future quakes is much
greater in seismic belts than elsewhere
around the globe.
• The past seismic activity in any region is

also a reliable indicator of future
earthquakes and can be used to generate
seismic-risk maps.
Seismic Risk
Earthquake Prediction
• Earthquake prediction research is largely based on
probability studies.
• The probability of an earthquake’s
occurring is based on two factors:
– The history of earthquakes in an area
– The rate at which strain builds up in the rocks
Earthquake History
– Earthquake recurrence rates can indicate that the fault involved ruptures repeatedly at regular intervals to generate similar quakes.
– Probability forecasts are also based on the location of seismic gaps.
– Seismic gaps are sections of active faults that haven’t experienced significant earthquakes for a long period of time.
Strain Accumulation
– The rate at which strain builds up in rocks is another factor used to determine the earthquake probability
along a section of a fault.
– To predict when a quake might occur, scientists make several measurements.
• Accumulation of strain in a particular part of the fault

• Amount of strain released during the last quake
along that section of the fault
• Amount of time that has passed since an earthquake has struck that section of the fault
Section Assessment
1. Why might only buildings that are
between and 10 stories tall be seriously
affected during an earthquake?
If the shaking caused by the quake had the

same period of vibration as the natural sway
of buildings at that height, they would be
more violently affected than either taller or
shorter buildings.
Section Assessment
2. What is a seismic gap, and how would it possibly affect the
prediction of earthquakes for the area?
A seismic gap is a section of an active fault that

hasn’t experienced a significant earthquake for a
log period of time. A seismic gap would generally
have a higher probability of a future earthquake.
Section Assessment
3. Identify whether the following statements
are true or false.
false All high seismic risk areas in the United States
______
are located on the Pacific coast.
false Fault scarps are areas of horizontal offset.
______
true
______ Wooden structures generally fair better in an
earthquake than do stone structures.
true
______ San Francisco sits above a seismic gap.

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Earthquakes & Society

– Fault scarps are areas of

Large Ocean Wave generated by vertical

• They move very quickly through the water

• The past seismic activity in any region is

• Accumulation of strain in a particular part of the fault

If the shaking caused by the quake had the

A seismic gap is a section of an active fault that

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