What is Earthquake?

   

     An earthquake can be triggered by a quick slip on a fault, volcanic or magmatic activity, other abrupt stress changes in the earth, or both. An earthquake can also be defined as the ensuing ground shaking and transmitted seismic energy. [American Geological Survey]

    Over a million earthquakes occur year, or two every minute, on a global scale. One of the worst possible natural disasters is a significant earthquake that strikes an urban region. Over a million people have died as a result of earthquakes worldwide in the previous 40 years (1970–2017) in Armenia, China, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Iran, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, and Turkey.

    In certain seismically active regions of the world, excessive urbanization has resulted in the development of megacities, which have 20,000–60,000 people per square kilometer. These cities are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of earthquakes, which include high rates of trauma, hypoxia, hypothermia, and acute respiratory failure fatalities, in addition to fractures and other injuries brought on by the collapse of infrastructure.

What are the effects of earthquake in your local community?

    Building structural damage, fires, damage to bridges and highways, the start of slope failures, liquefaction, and tsunamis are some of the frequent effects of earthquakes.