DANGERS CAUSED BY EARTHQUAKES

Most of the hazards to people come from man-

made structures themselves and the shaking they
receive from the earthquake.
The real dangers to people are being crushed in a
collapsing building, drowning in a flood caused by a
broken dam or levee, getting buried under a
landslide, or being burned in a fire.

 Shaking and ground rupture-causes death as

many buildings and other rigid structures
collapse. The amount of damage depends on
strength of earthquake. The ground rupture
sometimes meters deep and is very visible to
the eyes. major risk for large engineering
structures like dams, bridges, nuclear power
stations….
 Landslide/ landslip and avalanches – landslides
cause a wide range of ground movement
causing rocks to fall, slopes flow due to pressure
(occurs offshore, onshore, coastal…) avalanches
are a rapid flow of snow down a slope, from either
natural triggers or human activity. Typically occurring in
mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water
with the descending snow.
 Fires- these fires can be started by broken gas
lines and power lines, or tipped over wood or
coal stoves. They can be a serious problem,
especially if the water lines that feed the fire
hydrants are broken, too.
 Soil liquefaction-is when the strength and
stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake
shaking or other rapid loading. Liquefaction
occurs in saturated soils, that is, soils in which
 the space between individual particles is
completely filled with water. This water exerts a
pressure on the soil particles that influences how
tightly the particles themselves are pressed
together. Prior to an earthquake, the water
pressure is relatively low. However, earthquake
shaking can cause the water pressure to
increase to the point where the soil particles can
readily move with respect to each other.
Earthquake shaking often triggers this increase
in water pressure, but construction related
activities such as blasting could also cause an
increase in water pressure. Some examples are
quicksand, quick clay, turbidity, and currents…
 Tsunami-tidal wave is a series of water waves
caused by the displacement of a large volume of
the body, (lake and ocean)
 Floods-an earthquake can break dams and
levees along a river. The water from the river or
the reservoir would then flood the area,
damaging buildings and maybe sweeping away
or drowning people.
 Human impacts-causes disease to spread, lack of
basic necessities, loss of life, higher insurance premiums,
general ,property damage, road and bridge damage, and
collapse.
 Mudslide-it’s a downhill movement; It is a rapid movement
of a large mass of mud formed from loose soil and water. Its
also called mudflow or mud stream…
 This structural failure -refers to loss of load
carrying capacity of a component.
-Structural shaking- Earthquakes are a severe structural
hazard that causes vibrations in the structures due to the ground
shaking. If the structures are weak, or extremely rigid to withstand
severe vibrations, then these may collapse. The tall buildings may
experience extreme vibrations due to their height, and may fall down
or into each other. Other destructive effects on structures due to an
earthquake are sliding away from their foundations, and their
horizontal or vertical movements that may make the structures unsafe.
 Other things that happen are walls collapse,
electrical fore, glass shatter and kill people,
hoardings on the road fall and pierce through ,
cable wires are shaken , projections (near) not
safe .

-RHEA SHAH
THANK U 