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Case Study: Predicting the Next Big Earthquake

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USGS Recent Worldwide Earthquake Activity To explore individual earthquakes in more depth, click on the UTC Date-Time field. Show me how Hide Details for accessing USGS Recent Worldwide Earthquake Activity Scroll the list to look over earthquakes that have occurred in the last seven days. To explore individual earthquakes in more depth, follow the COMMENTS links. Scroll to the bottom of the list to view recent Earthquakes plotted on a world map. What is the magnitude of the most recent recorded earthquake? How many earthquakes were recorded for the last seven days? Of those earthquakes, how many were of a magnitude 7.0 or greater? IRIS Seismic Monitor Click on the map to zoom to specific regions. Click on individual earthquakes to see lists of others nearby. Show me how Hide Details for accessing the IRIS Seismic Monitor Click on the map to zoom to specific regions. Click on individual earthquakes to see lists of others nearby. Where are earthquakes concentrated?

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Nepal Earthquake Case Studies

a case study of an earthquake in recent times

About the Project

On April 25, 2015, Nepal and its people experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. On May 12, another major earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit the country. In practice, his means that millions of Nepalis have lived and died under the weight of falling buildings, landslides, floods, hunger, and homelessness brought about by massive seismic shifts across the Himalayan belt. Most will refer to this as an earthquake, singular. But this is no singular disaster. The country has experienced more than 300 seismic events since April 25, 2015, and nearly 9000 people died as a direct result of the two most major earthquakes.

For most of Nepal’s approximately 30 million people, living uncertainty is old hat. Consider the legacies of civil war (1996-2006) followed by a decade of political instability and current struggles to write a viable constitution. But the spring of 2015 has cracked open new forms of vulnerability for most Nepalis. These quakes have caused enormous destruction to the nation’s rich cultural heritage, in the Kathmandu Valley and beyond. The countryside has experienced vast devastation. More than half a million homes have been destroyed or are precariously habitable. This equates to about 2.5 million internally displaced. More than 3,500 schools have been destroyed and nearly as many health posts. There has been widespread damage to highways and road networks; glacial lakes are in danger of bursting; landslides are a constant threat, and have continued to wipe out settlements; many hydroelectric dams have been damaged; water borne illness and other public health challenges loom as monsoon has arrived. Even so, Nepalis are showing incredible resilience, creativity, and deep commitments to helping each other through this suffering.

This project – in the context of ANTH 55: Anthropology of Global Health – explores the human impacts of these disasters by asking students to engage in collective research and writing of case studies focused on specific areas of inquiry related to the earthquake.

The assumption of this project is not that students will become “experts” either on Nepal or on the health effects of earthquakes, but that they will amass sufficient knowledge about their area of inquiry so that they can contribute to an effort to expand knowledge and understanding of this event to others, and expand in the process their own conceptualization of what “global health” is, where and how it occurs, and how it links to many other aspects of human life.

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March 7, 2024

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Deadly earthquakes trigger hunt for speedier alerts

by Vedrana Simičević, Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine

seismology

Researchers in Europe have identified an underground signal that may be a precursor to strong quakes.

Dr. Quentin Bletery has some good news regarding an all-too-often gloomy subject: earthquakes.

A researcher at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, or IRD, Bletery thinks it might one day be possible to predict strong earthquakes minutes or even hours in advance.

Signal discovery

Earthquakes are usually caused by the movement of two tectonic plates on either side of deep geological underground fractures known as fault lines.

"The fault starts slipping sometime before the earthquake," said Bletery. "The question is: does this accelerate in a microsecond or is it something that takes more time and could be tracked?"

Based on past experiments, Bletery has reason to believe that gradual slips do occur. Now he may have even more reason.

Bletery and IRD colleague Dr. Jean-Mathieu Nocquet discovered a signal that could—theoretically—be used to give an alert about strong shaking beforehand.

Named EARLI , the project began in January 2021 and is due to last through 2027 following a one-year prolongation.

Forecasting frustration

Earthquakes occur around the world on a daily basis. Most are too small to be felt on the surface.

Larger quakes, above magnitude 6, are often deadly. For example, one that struck Turkey and Syria in February 2023 killed more than 50 000 people and left around 1.5 million others homeless.

Over the past two decades, earthquakes have killed about 1 million people worldwide, according to EARLI.

Not only can earthquakes be measured with precision but where they tend to strike is also well known. Southern Europe including the Mediterranean, Japan, Indonesia, Chile and the US states of California and Alaska are all hotspots.

Until now, scientists have been unable to identify any detectable sign of gradual fault slips.

Suspecting that any such signal might be too weak to be picked up by seismometers, Bletery and Nocquet instead used high-rate Global Positioning System data from more than 3,000 stations worldwide.

GPS information is an alternative to seismological data for gauging how much the ground moved during an earthquake and in between quakes.

The GPS information included data recorded hours before each of 90 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above.

This approach paid off. The researchers found a barely noticeable, but still statistically significant, pattern that starts to show two hours before earthquakes near the eventual epicenter.

"It's only a small signal, but you can't find it randomly in other places and at some other time," said Bletery. "Its very intriguing."

He said that more research is needed to expand understanding of the observed signal and to consider the feasibility of earthquake prediction.

One obstacle is that current earthquake-monitoring instruments lack the coverage and precision for this kind of research, according to Bletery.

An answer here might be to attach acoustic sensors to optical fiber cables that lie on seabeds as well as underground and that are the backbone of today's global communications system.

Smaller, faster indicator

Meanwhile, the EARLI researchers have a more modest goal: to speed up existing alerts to people on their mobile phones minutes before an earthquake.

These alerts are based on the seismic waves caused by the quake and recorded by seismometers.

Bletery and his team are seeking to improve such alerts by using seismometers to measure something else: perturbations in the Earth's gravity field caused by massive movements of rock.

While this indicator is much smaller than seismic waves, it's faster.

Bletery and his team employed an artificial-intelligence (AI) algorithm to analyze this type of data and estimate the danger of a potential tsunami.

The existing warning system for a tsunami needs 20 to 30 minutes for the first estimation. The EARLI method, while still experimental, required one minute.

"The goal is to make early-warning systems a lot faster," said Bletery.

Damage control

Limiting the consequences of earthquakes is also a research priority.

This was the focus of another project. Called RISE , it ran from September 2019 through May 2023.

"Our starting point was to make Europe more resilient to earthquakes," said Professor Stefan Wiemer, director of the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich. "And there is no single measure to achieve that."

Wiemer led a group of engineers and experts in seismology, information technology , geology and social sciences from two dozen organizations in 13 countries ranging from Japan and Italy to Israel and Mexico.

New Europe-wide map

The researchers improved the EU's ability to estimate casualties and damage caused by an earthquake—something called "rapid impact assessment."

The team built on existing global services including ShakeMap, which gathers data on ground shaking in areas struck by earthquakes.

Using new, more detailed data, the researchers established a European version of the ShakeMap service. European Shakemap automatically receives any recorded data when an earthquake above magnitude 4 strikes.

At the same time, it compiles relevant information such as the number of people living in the area, the local soil conditions and the vulnerability of structures in the zone that was hit.

"We can estimate within only 30 minutes after an event an approximate number of victims, injured people and various levels of damage and costs," said Wiemer, who is also chair of seismology at the Department of Earth Science at ETH Zurich.

This not only is useful for urgent decisions in the wake of an earthquake but also can improve knowledge of what would happen in a particular area if another quake ever struck there.

The system is the first of its kind to become operational at the European level and is now also operational in Italy and Switzerland.

RISE also advanced methods—including through AI—for forecasting stronger aftershocks. In the aftermath of an earthquake , hundreds or thousands of smaller tremors can overwhelm seismic networks.

"It's difficult to process all these data, especially when you have to do it manually," said Wiemer. "With machine-learning techniques, we can now process these events more rapidly and accurately."

Provided by Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine

This article was originally published in Horizon the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.

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Earthquake case studies

Earthquake case studies Below are powerpoint presentations discussing the primary and secondary effects and immediate and long-term responses for both the Kobe, Japan and Kashmir, Pakistan earthquakes.

Effects of the Italian earthquake – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-italian-earthquake-the-aftermath/6997.html Responses to Italian earthquake – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-italian-earthquake-the-emergency-response/6998.html The Kobe earthquake – http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-kobe-earthquake/3070.html General effects & responses & Kobe (Rich) & Kashmir (Poor)

O Ltb Eartqaukes Cs from donotreply16 Kobe earthquake (Rich country)

Koberevision from cheergalsal Haiti 2010 – Poor country Picture Facts On 12th January, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck close to Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince The earthquake occurred at a destructive plate margin between the Caribbean and North American Plates, along a major fault line. The earthquakes focus was 13km underground, and the epicentre was just 25km from Port-au-Prince Haiti has suffered a large number of serious aftershocks after the main earthquake

Primary effects About 220,000 people were killed and 300,000 injured The main port was badly damaged, along with many roads that were blocked by fallen buildings and smashed vehicles Eight hospitals or health centres in Port-au-Prince collapsed or were badly damaged. Many government buildings were also destroyed About 100,000 houses were destroyed and 200,000 damaged in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. Around 1.3 million Haitians were displaced (left homeless)

Secondary effects Over 2 million Habitats were left without food and water. Looting became a serious problem The destruction of many government buildings hindered the government’s efforts to control Haiti, and the police force collapsed The damage to the port and main roads meant that critical aid supplies for immediate help and longer-term reconstruction were prevented from arriving or being distributed effectively Displaced people moved into tents and temporary shelters, and there were concerns about outbreaks of disease. By November 2010, there were outbreaks of Cholera There were frequent power cuts The many dead bodies in the streets, and under the rubble, created a health hazard in the heat. So many had to be buried in mass graves

Short-term responses The main port and roads were badly damaged, crucial aid (such as medical supplies and food) was slow to arrive and be distributed. The airport couldn’t handle the number of planes trying to fly in and unload aid American engineers and diving teams were used to clear the worst debris and get the port working again, so that waiting ships could unload aid The USA sent ships, helicopters, 10,000 troops, search and rescue teams and $100 million in aid The UN sent troops and police and set up a Food Aid Cluster to feed 2 million people Bottled water and water purification tablets were supplied to survivors Field hospitals were set up and helicopters flew wounded people to nearby countries The Haitian government moved 235,000 people from Port-au-Prince to less damaged cities

Long-term responses Haiti is dependent on overseas aid to help it recover New homes would need to be built to a higher standard, costing billions of dollars Large-scale investment would be needed to bring Haiti’s road, electricity, water and telephone systems up to standard, and to rebuild the port Sichuan, China 2008 – Poor country case study Picture On 12th May at 14:28pm, the pressure resulting from the Indian Plate colliding with the Eurasian Plate was released along the Longmenshan fault line that runs beneath. This led to an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale with tremors lasting 120 seconds.

Primary effects · 69,000 people were killed · 18,000 missing · 374,000 were injured · between 5 -11 million people were missing · 80% of buildings collapsed in rural areas such as Beichuan county due to poorer building standards · 5 million buildings collapsed

Secondary effects · Communication were brought to a halt – neither land nor mobile phones worked in Wenchuan · Roads were blocked and damaged and some landslides blocked rivers which led to flooding · Fires were caused as gas pipes burst · Freshwater supplies were contaminated by dead bodies

Immediate responses · 20 helicopters were assigned to rescue and relief effects immediately after the disaster · Troops parachuted in or hiked to reach survivors · Rescuing survivors trapped in collapsed buildings was a priority · Survivors needed food, water and tents to shelter people from the spring rains. 3.3 million new tents were ordered.

Long-term responses · Aid donations specifically money – over £100 million were raised by the Red Cross · One million temporary small were built to house the homeless · The Chinese government pledged a $10 million rebuilding funds and banks wrote off debts by survivors who did not have insurance

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Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A 30‐Week Real‐Time Case Study in China

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Omar M. Saad , Yunfeng Chen , Alexandros Savvaidis , Sergey Fomel , Xiuxuan Jiang , Dino Huang , Yapo Abolé Serge Innocent Oboué , Shanshan Yong , Xin’an Wang , Xing Zhang , Yangkang Chen; Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A 30‐Week Real‐Time Case Study in China. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 2023;; 113 (6): 2461–2478. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0120230031

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Earthquake forecasting is one of the most challenging tasks in the field of seismology that aims to save human life and mitigate catastrophic damages. We have designed a real‐time earthquake forecasting framework to forecast earthquakes and tested it in seismogenic regions in southwestern China. The input data are the features provided by the multicomponent seismic monitoring system acoustic electromagnetic to AI (AETA), in which the data are recorded using two types of sensors per station: electromagnetic (EM) and geo‐acoustic (GA) sensors. The target is to forecast the location and magnitude of the earthquake that may occur next week, given the data of the current week. The proposed method is based on dimension reduction from massive EM and GA data using principal component analysis, which is followed by random‐forest‐based classification. The proposed algorithm is trained using the available data from 2016 to 2020 and evaluated using real‐time data during 2021. As a result, the testing accuracy reaches 70%, whereas the precision, recall, and F1‐score are 63.63%, 93.33%, and 75.66%, respectively. The mean absolute error of the distance and the predicted magnitude using the proposed method compared to the catalog solution are 381 km and 0.49, respectively.

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How a 6.6 magnitude quake 90 years ago transformed Utah's earthquake science

By carter williams, ksl.com | posted - march 12, 2024 at 3:01 p.m., an earthquake crack found in hansel valley near promontory point, box elder county, on nov. 11, 1934. the primary 6.6 magnitude earthquake occurred 90 years ago on tuesday. (utah state historical society).

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

Editor's note: This article is part of a series reviewing Utah and national history for KSL.com's Historic section .

SALT LAKE CITY — 1934 was an interesting year in Utah to say the least.

It remains the state's hottest year on record and its third-driest, as drought conditions crept into a state already struggling through the depths of the Great Depression. It's also when one of the largest earthquakes in state history rattled northern Utah and the Wasatch Front.

That earthquake, centered north of the Great Salt Lake, sent tremors as far south as Richfield, as well as into parts of Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming exactly 90 years ago Tuesday. Two people died and thousands of buildings were damaged, per state and federal reports. It was later determined to be a 6.6-magnitude earthquake.

As the Utah State Historical Society wrote in 1995 , reviewing the earthquake's history, it also caused "panic and concern for many in northern Utah."

Morning wake-up call

Much like Utahns may remember from the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that shook the Wasatch Front nearly four years ago , the 1934 earthquake struck relatively early in the day.

It was centered within the Hansel Valley near the small — and now abandoned — town of Kelton, Box Elder County, shortly after 8 a.m. on March 12, 1934. It produced many aftershocks over the next few months, including magnitude 5.6 earthquakes in April and May that year.

"Dishes fell, plaster was cracked and furniture shifted about in rooms," the Ogden Standard-Examiner reported that day. "One woman said she was awakened when her bed rolled on its casters and bumped a rocking chair."

The outlet reported other people's reactions to the incident. One woman said she was "startled" when her typewriter slid into her lap and the doors of the file cabinets around her in the building she was working in "shook open."

Two people died in fluke incidents. The Salt Lake Telegram reported at the time that Ida Venable Atkinson, a 21-year-old Ogden woman, died from a heart attack triggered when the earthquake started shaking. State historians note that she had been bedridden by illness for nearly two weeks before the earthquake and was "affected perhaps by the shock" of the violent earthquake.

Charles Bithell, a 55-year-old pipe fitter for Salt Lake City's water department, was critically injured when the trench he was working in collapsed after all the shaking, He died a day later at LDS Hospital.

Newspapers reported all sorts of other impacts. Utah schools were closed the rest of the day after an aftershock was reported later in the morning. Children returned to class two days after the earthquake.

Civil Works Administration workers were in the middle of painting the murals at the top of the Utah Capitol rotunda when it struck, causing the scaffolding they were on to sway back and forth. But it held up and the workers weren't injured. And much like in 2020, damage may have been reported to the Angel Moroni statue atop the Salt Lake Temple.

"Opinion was divided this afternoon on whether the Angel Moroni ... had been topped and turned slightly on his base," the Deseret News reported on the day of the earthquake , adding that temple architects believed the shaking turned the trumpet "a few points south by east." The trumpet completely fell off the statue in 2020.

The Utah Geological Survey recorded over 2,300 structures with at least some damage in a final report. Many Utahns reported falling chimneys, broken windows, cracked walls and falling plaster, according to Sheryl Peterson, a former spokeswoman for the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, who compiled a history of the event for the university .

She added that it also led to "several fissures or cracks" in the land near the epicenter and it broke a water main in nearby Snowville. Two public buildings were abandoned, including a three-story brick building at Utah State University that was reportedly "split from top to bottom."

Final lessons learned

In many ways, the 1934 earthquake helped fill in several major knowledge gaps.

Researchers had started to suspect in the 1800s that there was some sort of fault activity in Utah, but they didn't know as much about the Wasatch Front in 1934 as experts know today. The Utah State Historical Society notes the 1934 earthquake became "one of the first in the Utah region to show evidence of historic faulting."

Charles Richter, inventor of the Richter scale, even studied the earthquake and used it in "defining his famous magnitude scale" that was unveiled a year after the event, state historians wrote.

Experts started placing seismograph stations around Utah to research and study earthquakes afterward, Chris Merritt, Utah's historic preservation officer, wrote about the earthquake .

Those investments back then are still yielding a better understanding of earthquakes today. For example, the 2020 earthquake helped researchers adjust the location and depth of the Wasatch Fault based on all the information collected by seismographs.

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Identifying pre-seismic ionospheric disturbances using space geodesy: A case study of the 2011 Lorca earthquake (Mw 5.1), Spain

  • Published: 11 March 2024

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  • Abdennasser Tachema   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5198-4722 1  

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This research work examines earthquake-induced ionospheric anomalies through an in-depth analysis of Total Electron Content (TEC) parameter. It involves modeling the ionospheric F2-layer by processing geodetic and geophysical data to generate regional TEC maps. Additionally, a geodetic approach is developed for short-term seismic hazard prediction, grounded in seismo-ionospheric interactions. This study supports the concept that the occupied space between the lithosphere and ionosphere forms a coherent structure of electrons and protons, ensuring the transmission of electromagnetic waves generated during the seismic nucleation of rocks at depths. Therefore, the analysis of GPS-TEC signals using both wavelet-based and statistical techniques is crucial for detecting the arrival time of pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies. The study assesses the effectiveness of the applied geodetic approach, using datasets from ground-based GPS/GNSS stations in an area proportional to seismic wave propagation. In-depth investigation of the Mw 5.1 shallow-moderate earthquake, that shook the Spanish city of Lorca on May 11th, 2011, revealed consistent outcomes in short-term seismic prediction. The forecasts indicated a lead time ranging from hours to days prior to the occurrence of the mainshock. These findings affirm the coupling hypothesis between the lithospheric and ionospheric envelopes allowing the prediction of imminent earthquakes over seismogenic regions.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in https://cddis.nasa.gov/archive/gnss/data/ and https://www.ign.es/web/en/ign/portal/gds-gnss-datos-rinex .

Code availability

Not applicable.

50 nT \(<\) Dst \(<\) ‒ 400 nT.

(very low geomagnetic activity) 0 \(<\) Kp \(<\) 9 (extreme geomagnetic storm).

50 < Solar radio flux < 300 sfu.

0 < SunSpot Number < 300.

Adhikari B, Dahal S, Karki M, Mishra RK, Dahal RK, Sasmal S, Klausner V (2020) Application of wavelet for seismic wave analysis in Kathmandu Valley after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal. Geoenviron Disasters 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40677-019-0134-8

Akpan AE, Ibanga JI, George NJ, Ekanem AM (2019) Assessing seismo-ionospheric disturbances using Vanuatu and Honshu earthquakes of March 25, 2007, employing DEMETER and GPS data. Int J Environ Sci Technol 16:7187–7196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-019-02339-x

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Acknowledgements

The access to Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System data is acknowledged to International GNSS Service, the Estaciones de Referencia GNSS maintained by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional-Spain and the Rede Nacional de Estações Permanentes GNSS maintained by the Direção Geral do Território-Portugal. The author gratefully acknowledges the World Data Center (WDC) Kyoto, the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) for making the geomagnetic data available. The author would also like to thank Dr. Beatriz Gaite (IGN Madrid) and Pr. Miguel Herraiz (Complutense University of Madrid) for their generous support and encouragement during the preparation of this manuscript.

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Appendix 1: the over ninety igs (international network), ign (spanish network) and renep (portuguese network) permanents stations exploited in this study, appendix 2: study of ionospheric disturbances signatures over lorca city and its surrounding areas, under calms seismic activity and very quiet space weather conditions (year 2009).

figure 9

Spatial distribution of telluric tremors under calms seismic activity and quiet space weather conditions, from 01st January 2009 to 31st December 2009. The red star indicates the M5.1 main event occurred in the Lorca city on May 11. th , 2011, while the green circles represent the tremors recorded during the year 2009

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Tachema, A. Identifying pre-seismic ionospheric disturbances using space geodesy: A case study of the 2011 Lorca earthquake (Mw 5.1), Spain. Earth Sci Inform (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-024-01272-z

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Internet Geography

Case Study – The 2011 Japan Earthquake

Cambridge iGCSE Geography > The Natural Environment > Earthquakes and Volcanoes > Case Study – The 2011 Japan Earthquake

Background Information

Location : The earthquake struck 250 miles off the northeastern coast of Japan’s Honshu Island at 2:46 pm (local time) on March 11, 2011.

Japan 2011 Earthquake map

Japan 2011 Earthquake map

Magnitude : It measured 9.1 on the Moment Magnitude scale, making it one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded.

Japan is a highly developed country with advanced infrastructure, technology, and a robust economy. The nation has a high GDP, an efficient healthcare system, and extensive education. However, it’s also located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it prone to earthquakes.

What caused the 2011 Japan earthquake?

Japan is located on the eastern edge of the Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian plate, which is continental, is subducted by the Pacific Plate, an oceanic plate forming a subduction zone to the east of Japan. This type of plate margin is known as a destructive plate margin . The process of subduction is not smooth. Friction causes the Pacific Plate to stick. Pressure builds and is released as an earthquake.

Friction has built up over time, and when released, this caused a massive ‘megathrust’ earthquake. The enormous tension released as the plates shifted caused the seafloor to uplift, triggering the earthquake and subsequent tsunami .

The amount of energy released in this single earthquake was 600 million times the energy of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.

Scientists drilled into the subduction zone soon after the earthquake and discovered a thin, slippery clay layer lining the fault. The researchers think this clay layer allowed the two plates to slide an incredible distance, some 164 feet (50 metres), facilitating the enormous earthquake and tsunami.

The earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 20 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. This, combined with the high magnitude, caused a tsunami (find out more about  how a tsunami is formed  on the BBC website).

What were the primary effects of the 2011 Japan earthquake?

  • Ground Shaking : Extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure.
  • Landfall: Some coastal areas experienced land subsidence as the earthquake dropped the beachfront in some places by more than 50 cm.

What were the secondary effects of the 2011 Japan earthquake?

  • Tsunami : A giant tsunami wave resulted in widespread destruction along the coast.
  • Fatalities : Around 16,000 deaths were reported, mainly resulting from the tsunami.
  • Injuries : 26,152 were injured, mainly as a result of the tsunami.
  • Nuclear Crisis : The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was damaged, leading to radiation leaks.
  • Economic Loss : Estimated at over $235 billion.
  • Displacement : Around 340,000 people were displaced from their homes.
  • Damage: The tsunami destroyed or damaged 332,395 buildings, 2,126 roads, 56 bridges, and 26 railways. Three hundred hospitals were damaged, and 11 were destroyed.
  • Environmental Damage : Coastal ecosystems were heavily impacted.
  • Blackouts: Over 4.4 million households were left without electricity in North-East Japan.
  • Transport: Rural areas remained isolated for a long time because the tsunami destroyed major roads and local trains and buses. Sections of the Tohoku Expressway were damaged. Railway lines were damaged, and some trains were derailed.

What were the immediate responses to the 2011 Japan earthquake?

Tsunami Warnings and Prediction :

  • The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings three minutes after the earthquake.
  • Scientists predicted where the tsunami would hit using modelling and forecasting technology.

Search and Rescue Operations:

  • Rescue workers and 100,000 members of the Japan Self-Defence Force were dispatched within hours.
  • Some individuals were rescued from beneath rubble with the aid of sniffer dogs.

Radiation Protection Measures:

  • The government declared a 20 km evacuation zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
  • Evacuees from the area around the nuclear power plant were given iodine tablets to reduce radiation poisoning risk.

International Assistance:

  • Japan received help from the US military.
  • Search and rescue teams from New Zealand, India, South Korea, China, and Australia were sent.

Access and Evacuation :

  • Access was restricted to affected areas due to debris and mud, complicating immediate support.
  • Hundreds of thousands were evacuated to temporary shelters or relocated.

Health Monitoring :

  • Those near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown had radiation levels checked and their health monitored.
  • Measures were taken to ensure individuals did not receive dangerous exposure to radiation.

What were the long-term responses to the 2011 Japan earthquake?

Reconstruction Policy and Budget:

  • Establishment of the Reconstruction Policy Council in April 2011.
  • Approval of a budget of 23 trillion yen (£190 billion) for recovery over ten years.
  • Creation of ‘Special Zones for Reconstruction’ to attract investment in the Tohoku region.

Coastal Protection Measures:

  • Implementing coastal protection policies like seawalls and breakwaters designed for a 150-year recurrence interval of tsunamis.

Legislation for Tsunami-Resilient Communities:

  • Enactment of the ‘Act on the Development of Tsunami-resilient Communities’ in December 2011.
  • Emphasis on human life, combining infrastructure development with measures for the largest class tsunami.

Economic Challenges and Recovery:

  • Japan’s economy wiped 5–10% off the value of stock markets post-earthquake.
  • Long-term response priority: rebuild infrastructure, restore and improve the economy’s health.

Transportation and Infrastructure Repair:

  • Repair and reopening of 375 km of the Tohoku Expressway by the 24th of March 2011.
  • Restoration of the runway at Sendai Airport by the 29th of March, a joint effort by the Japanese Defence Force and the US Army.

Utility Reconstruction:

  • Energy, water supply, and telecommunications infrastructure reconstruction.
  • As of November 2011: 96% of electricity, 98% of water, and 99% of the landline network had been restored.

How does Japan prepare for earthquakes, and what was its impact?

Japan has a comprehensive earthquake preparedness program, including:

  • Strict Building Codes : Buildings are constructed to withstand seismic activity.
  • Early Warning Systems : Advanced technology provides early warnings to citizens.
  • Education and Drills : Regular earthquake drills in schools, offices, and public places.

Impact of the 2011 Earthquake

The extensive preparation in Japan likely saved lives and reduced damage during the 2011 earthquake. However, the unprecedented magnitude of the event still led to significant destruction, particularly with the tsunami and nuclear crisis.

The 2011 Japan earthquake illustrates the complexity of managing natural disasters in even the most developed and prepared nations. The event prompted further refinements in disaster preparedness and response in Japan and globally, highlighting the need for continuous assessment and adaptation to seismic risks.

The 2011 earthquake occurred off Japan’s Honshu Island, measuring 9.1 on the Moment Magnitude scale, one of the strongest ever recorded.

Triggered by a ‘megathrust’ in a destructive plate margin, the Pacific Plate subducted the Eurasian Plate, releasing energy equivalent to 600 million Hiroshima bombs.

Primary effects included extensive ground shaking and significant land subsidence in coastal areas.

Secondary effects included a massive tsunami, around 16,000 deaths, 26,152 injuries, a nuclear crisis at Fukushima, over $235 billion in economic loss, displacement of 340,000 people, and widespread damage to infrastructure and the environment.

Immediate responses included rapid tsunami warnings, extensive search and rescue operations, radiation protection measures, international assistance, and evacuation strategies.

Long-term responses focused on reconstruction policies, coastal protection, tsunami-resilient community development, economic recovery, and transportation and utility restoration.

Japan’s extensive earthquake preparedness, including strict building codes and early warning systems, likely reduced damage, but the magnitude still caused significant destruction.

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a case study of an earthquake in recent times

Africa’s Rock Enigmas Could Be Earliest Evidence of Ancient Earthquakes, Studies Suggest

D elving into Earth’s primordial past might reveal a world beyond recognition. In a remote section of southern Africa’s highveld, within the Barberton Greenstone Belt, scientists have uncovered possibly the eldest vestiges of the planet’s surface.

The geology of this locale has perplexed scholars, demanding rigorous analysis. But a recent study indicates that younger rocks from the Pacific Ocean’s floor near New Zealand might hold the key to unraveling these ancient geological complexities, potentially altering our comprehension of Earth’s youth.

An elaborate map by Cornel de Ronde, portraying a slice of ancient seafloor from roughly 3.3 billion years ago, marks the inception of the project. This anachronistic terrain, however, exhibited peculiar characteristics.

Conventional conceptions depict early Earth as a hotter, quake-less world incapable of sustaining rigid tectonic plates. Our findings contest this, suggesting a planet frequently convulsed by significant quakes due to the same plate tectonic processes seen today, like those occurring in New Zealand.

Chaotic Stone Clusters

The Barberton Greenstone Belt’s primeval stones have long challenged geologists due to their disordered states. Upended rocks of various origins—volcanic, chert, sandstone, conglomerate—intermix perplexingly.

Simon Lamb’s mapping of recent submarine landslides in New Zealand, instigated by seismic activity along the colossal Hikurangi subduction zone fault, served as a comparative revelation.

Such current analyses illuminate the interpretation of Barberton’s stone record, unveiling a massive ancient landslide encompassing debris from different environmental deposits, including both terrestrial and deep seafloor origins.

Emphasizing the significance of this discovery, we point to New Zealand’s geological narrative, markedly shaped by massive temblors in a subduction zone—a phenomenon still ongoing, evidenced by the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, which catalyzed considerable underwater landslides.

This oldest seismic track record, hidden within Africa’s highveld, extends our understanding of Earth’s formative times.

Unlocking Other Secrets

The study might also elucidate other enigmas, linking subduction zones not only to major quakes but also to potent volcanic outbursts.

The January 2022 eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, comparable to a colossal 60 Megaton bomb, propels us to ponder ancient volcanic episodes. Boninite lavas, rare today but abundant in early Earth and recently observed in Tonga, could be analogous to vast ash deposits found in the Greenstone Belt, potentially holding clues to life’s very genesis.

Our distant past’s reflections are found in the depths of the southwest Pacific, proffering unforeseen keys to Earth’s primordial state, its current semblance, and perhaps life’s dawn—all backstage to the drama of tectonic subduction.

Written by Simon Lamb , Associate Professor in Geophysics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Cornel de Ronde , Principal Scientist, GNS Science

This piece is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Delve into the original article .

FAQs About Ancient Earthquakes and Geological Discoveries

The bewildering rock formations of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, coupled with geological insights from present-day New Zealand, have offered groundbreaking perspectives on the early Earth’s seismic dynamics. This reevaluation not only redefines our understanding of the planet’s formative geological processes but also hints at the volatile conditions that might have set the stage for life to emerge. Through the echoes of Earth’s infancy preserved in these ancient stones, we gain a deeper appreciation of the planet’s evolutionary saga and the intricate history written in its very crust.

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    People are 100 times more likely to die in an automobile accident and 2000 times more likely to die from heart disease than to die because an earthquake causes their building to collapse on them . Recent decades have proven to be even safer with regard to earthquakes, partly because big earthquakes happen infrequently, albeit inevitably.

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    Earthquakes occur around the world on a daily basis. Most are too small to be felt on the surface. Larger quakes, above magnitude 6, are often deadly. For example, one that struck Turkey and Syria ...

  11. Earthquake case studies

    Facts On 12th January, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck close to Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince The earthquake occurred at a destructive plate margin between the Caribbean and North American Plates, along a major fault line. The earthquakes focus was 13km underground, and the epicentre was just 25km from Port-au-Prince

  12. Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial ...

    Earthquake Forecasting Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: A 30‐Week Real‐Time Case Study in China Omar M. Saad; Omar M. Saad 1 ... We have designed a real‐time earthquake forecasting framework to forecast earthquakes and tested it in seismogenic regions in southwestern China. The input data are the features provided by the ...

  13. Case Study

    Amatrice Earthquake Case Study; Lombok Indonesia Earthquake 2018 Case Study; 2018 Sulawesi Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami Case Study; Ecosystems. What is an ecosystem? ... Geological time is on a different time to human time; Rock Types and the Rock Cycle; Rock and Weathering; Different rocks create contrasting landforms and landscapes;

  14. "Recovering, not recovered" Hospital disaster resilience: a case-study

    A study in Italy after the L'Aquila earthquake in 2009 found that the average length of hospital stay (LOS) of admitted earthquake victims was 12.11 days; LOS was significantly associated with age, in a sample where 57% of patients were older than 60 years . In our sample, only 29% of patients were older than 50 years, and age was not ...

  15. Recent advances in earthquake monitoring I: Ongoing revolution of

    The SCSN has been producing local earthquake catalogs for a magnitude of completeness of M3.25 from 1932, presently reaching as low as M1.7.The present routine detection method is short-term-average/long-term average (STA/LTA) (Allen, 1982) combined with manual review.STA/LTA only tracks amplitude changes without completely utilizing the complex waveform features, thereby typically failing at ...

  16. Post-earthquake damage classification and assessment: case study of the

    On August 7th, 2020, a magnitude Mw = 5.0 earthquake shook 5 km north of Mila city center, northeast of Algeria, causing substantial damage directly to structures, and indirectly from induced impacts of landslides and rock falls, ultimately disrupt to everyday civilian life. Given the recent significant seismic occurrences in the region, a detailed and comprehensive examination and assessment ...

  17. Evaluation of earthquake disaster recovery patterns and influencing

    The accumulated loss index (L) computes the cumulative economic loss caused by the deviated GDP growth after the earthquake disaster. T is the time required for the post-disaster area to reach or exceed the pre-disaster level or the termination time of the study, namely T1 or T2 in Equation equation (3) (3) T = T 1 − T 0, G D P p r e (T 1 ...

  18. Real-time prediction of earthquake potential damage: A case study for

    Meanwhile, EPDor needs to be further improved by using machine learning to pick up P-waves in real-time, detect the location of the epicenter in real-time and determine the strike θ of the surface-projected fault ruptures in the first few seconds after an earthquake occurs. The recent studies (Böse et al., 2012; Meng and Wang, 2018; Zheng et ...

  19. Integrating post-event very high resolution SAR imagery and ...

    Earthquakes have a profound impact on the built environment, resulting in significant human casualties and extensive property damage. In the 21st century alone, approximately 0.78 million deaths were recorded due to earthquakes, with an average of 32,513 fatalities per year between 2000 and 2023 (Ritchie et al. 2022).The earthquakes that have struck densely populated regions in the 21st ...

  20. How a 6.6 magnitude quake 90 years ago transformed Utah's earthquake

    Morning wake-up call. Much like Utahns may remember from the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that shook the Wasatch Front nearly four years ago, the 1934 earthquake struck relatively early in the day. It ...

  21. Identifying pre-seismic ionospheric disturbances using space ...

    This research work examines earthquake-induced ionospheric anomalies through an in-depth analysis of Total Electron Content (TEC) parameter. It involves modeling the ionospheric F2-layer by processing geodetic and geophysical data to generate regional TEC maps. Additionally, a geodetic approach is developed for short-term seismic hazard prediction, grounded in seismo-ionospheric interactions ...

  22. "Recovering, not recovered" Hospital disaster resilience: a case-study

    A study in Italy after the L'Aquila earthquake in 2009 found that the average length of hospital stay (LOS) of admitted earthquake victims was 12.11 days; LOS was significantly associated with age, in a sample where 57% of patients were older than 60 years [Citation 42]. In our sample, only 29% of patients were older than 50 years, and age ...

  23. (PDF) A STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA

    Abstract India is a seismically active region and experiences frequent earthquakes. Therefore, earthquake safety and prevention is of utmost importance in India. Recent studies have focused...

  24. Nearly Simultaneous Pairs and Triplets of Historical Destructive

    Historical seismic catalogs of Italy record several instances of pairs or triplets of large earthquakes (Mw>6.7) along the Apennine chain, occurring on the same date or within a short time frame (days or weeks). Some of these events have mesoseismic areas tens of kilometers apart and/or seismogenic structures located more than 1-3 times the fault length away. Although in the case of ...

  25. Case Study

    Economic Loss: Estimated at over $235 billion. Displacement: Around 340,000 people were displaced from their homes. Damage: The tsunami destroyed or damaged 332,395 buildings, 2,126 roads, 56 bridges, and 26 railways. Three hundred hospitals were damaged, and 11 were destroyed. Environmental Damage: Coastal ecosystems were heavily impacted.

  26. PDF Case Study of Earthquake Resistant Structure and Its Recent Innovation

    The occurrence of earthquakes in (day time or night time) plays a major role as they have a direct impact on the occupancy of buildings. for example. The Latur earthquake (1993) took place in the early hours around 3:53 AM most people were sleeping in the affected area.On the contrary, the Bhuj earthquake (2001)

  27. Africa's Rock Enigmas Could Be Earliest Evidence of Ancient Earthquakes

    But a recent study indicates that younger rocks from the Pacific Ocean's floor near New Zealand might hold the key to unraveling these ancient geological complexities, potentially altering our ...

  28. The Alarming Findings Inside a Mass Shooter's Brain

    An attack by an Army reservist prompted a search for answers about whether the soldier's service could have been a factor. March 13, 2024. 4. Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise. Featuring Dave Philipps ...

  29. Earthquake case study

    Earthquake Case study: Bhuj Earthquake 26th January 2001 Presented by Nitin Chandra J 1221113109. 2. Disaster A disaster is a natural or man-made (or technological) hazard resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment. 3.

  30. The Sunday Read: 'Can Humans Endure the ...

    For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio, a new iOS app available for news subscribers. The Daily March 12, 2024 • 27:30