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EARTHQUAKE
Aditya Kumar Anand
Project Assistant Level 2
CSIR-Central Road Research Institute
Earthquakes
Anearthquakeistheshaking and vibration onthesurfaceoftheearthresultingfrom
underground movementalongplatemargins.
Whenplates move past, towards or awayfromeachotherthemovementisnotsmooth.
Frictioncausestheplatestogetstuck.
Thiscausespressure to build up.Earthquakesoccurwhenthisbuild up of pressure is
released.
Thepointwheretheearthquake starts is called the focus.
Thispressure travels up to the Earth's crust and escapes at the epicentreofthe
earthquake.
Inanearthquake,energyisreleasedintheformofwaves.Thesearecalledseismic
waves.Thewavesspreadoutfromthefocus
Measurements of Earthquakes
Thepowerofanearthquakeis
measuredusingaseismometer.
Aseismometer is a sensitive
machine,whichpicksupthe
vibrations caused by the earthquake.
Itplotsthesevibrations on
a seismograph.
Thestrengthormagnitudeofan
earthquakeismeasuredusingascale
calledtheRichter Scale.
TheRichterScaleisnumbered0-10.
Social Impacts
Short term impacts
Economic Impacts
Environmental Impacts
Transport and
communication systems are Landslides may occur.
disrupted.
Nepal Earthquake
Date
25April2015
Origin time
11:56:26NST
Magnitude
7.9Mw
Depth
Epicentre
28.147N 84.708E
Type
Thrust
Areas
affected
Nepal
India
China
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Max.
intensity
IX (Violent)
Casualties
Rugged&fragilegeomorphiccondition
Variableclimateconditions
Increasingpopulation
Pooreconomicconditions
Unplannedsettlements