earthquake and volcanoes essay

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Effects of earthquakes and volcanoes on people and the environment

The effects of earthquakes and volcanoes are typically classified as being either primary or secondary.

Primary effects are the direct result of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, such as buildings collapsing due to the movement of the earth or loss of life from pyroclastic flows.

Secondary effects are those that occur as the result of primary effects . Examples include fires caused by the rupture of gas pipes caused by an earthquake or homelessness caused by the loss of buildings.

Impacts of earthquakes and volcanoes on people

The impacts of volcanoes and earthquakes will vary depending on a range of factors at any particular place, however, earthquakes and volcanoes have a similar range of hazardous results.

Loss of life

Loss of life occurs in a many ways including collapsing buildings, bridges and elevated roads, disease and fire.

Cutting basic amenities

The loss of basic ammenities such as fresh water, gas and electricity due to damage to power lines, gas pipelines, water and sewage pipes.

Collapse of buildings

Earthquakes can lead to the destruction of buildings. Those not destroyed can be weakened and may subsequently collapse due to aftershocks. People may become homeless.

Damage to transport infrastructure

Damage to transport infrastruture, such as roads, rail and airports can make access to earthquake affected areas very difficult.

Loss of crops and trees

Pyroclastic flows, lahars and ashfall can destroy crops in the surrounding area, destroying people’s livelihoods.

Death of fish

Ashfall can lead to the death of fish in rivers, lakes and hatcheries.

Spread of disease

Due to the lack of clean water, poor access to medicine, overcrowding in temporary camps and lack of sanitation disease can easily spread.

Loss of jobs and business

The loss of factories and offices when earthquakes and volcanoes occur can lead to the loss of businesses and jobs.

Higher insurance premiums

Areas affected by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can lead to higher insurance premiums or none being offered at all. The increase in premiums may out-price some companies/individuals making it impossible to get insurance cover.

Loss of human life

The loss of human life is the most significant impact of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. LICs and NEEs, such as Haiti and Pakistan, do not have the resources to prepare for and respond to hazards such as earthquakes and volcanoes compared to HICs such as Japan and the USA.

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Effects of earthquakes and volcanoes

What factors affect the impact of earthquakes?

The amount of damage caused by earthquakes depends on a combination of factors. These include:

• the strength of the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks
• the depth of the earthquake, the deeper the earthquake, the more energy is absorbed by the crust above them
• the distance from the epicentre, the further away from the epicentre the weaker the seismic waves
• the geology of an area, looser rocks, such as sedimentary, are more likely to liquefy and cause buildings and structures to sink into the ground
• the quality of building and construction materials
• the density of buildings as the higher the density, the greater the chance of swaying buildings to affect others
• the number of storeys – the taller the buildings, the more likely they are to sway and collapse
• the population density – the higher the population density, the more likely there are to be casualties
• the time of the day the earthquake occurs – at night people are likely to be sleeping in residential areas – older residential areas are more likely to be affected by earthquake damage
• secondary hazards such as tsunamis close to the coast, landslides and rockfalls in mountainous areas and fires caused by broken gas pipes in urban areas.
• contamination – caused by water supplies becoming contaminated as they mix with sewage

What factors affect the impact of volcanoes?

There are a wide variety of hazards that can injure and kill people and destroy property from volcanic eruptions. However, unlike earthquakes, volcanic eruptions can affect people and places hundreds of miles away. In addition to this, volcanic eruptions can even affect global climate.

Explosive eruptions can result in huge volumes of solid and molten rock fragments, known as tephra, volcanic gases and ash high into the atmosphere. In some instances, this has been as high as 20 km above a volcano in just 30 minutes. Volcanic ash in the atmosphere presents a considerable hazard to aeroplanes. Following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, large swathes of air space across Europe was closed due to the hazard ash in the atmosphere presented.

Made of up tiny glass particles and pulverized rock, ash can be spewed tens of thousands of feet into the air, reaching jet cruising altitude. It’s abrasive enough to erode the blades of the compressor (which increases the pressure of the air that feeds the jet engine), reducing its efficiency. The ash that gets into the combustion chamber can melt, producing a substance like molten glass. That then solidifies on the turbine blades, blocking airflow, and potentially resulting in engine failure.

Following a significant eruption ash clouds can extend hundreds of kilometres downwind of the volcano. When this ash falls, it can damage crops, machinery and electronics. Significant ashfall can result in the collapse of buildings due to its weight.

Volcanic eruptions can emit significant volumes of toxic gasses during eruptions. Even when not erupting, gases are released through small openings called fumaroles. 90% of all gas emitted is water vapour; however, carbon dioxide and fluorine gas can also be released with deadly consequences.

On 21 August 1986, one of the strangest and most mysterious natural disasters in history took place at Lake Nyos – a lake formed atop a volcanic crater in northwest Cameroon. Without warning, the lake released hundreds of thousands of tonnes of toxic carbon dioxide – estimates range from 300,000 to up to 1.6 million – and this silent death cloud spread out over the countryside at nearly 100 km/h (62 mph), suffocating an estimated 1,746 people and more than 3,500 livestock within minutes. As carbon dioxide is heavier than air, it flowed into valleys below the crater, causing the significant loss of life.

Fluorine gas, which in high concentrations can be deadly, is absorbed into volcanic ash particles that fall to the ground. The particles can poison livestock grazing on ash-covered grass. It can also contaminate water supplies.

Pyroclastic flows, deadly avalanches of hot ash, gas and rock fragments, can result from explosive eruptions or the collapse of growing lava domes. Pyroclastic flows often follow the path of least resistance, such as valleys. The deadliest pyroclastic flow in recorded history was caused by the eruption of Mount Pelée, Martinique in 1902 when around 30 000 people died. A pyroclastic flow from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD led to over 3360 deaths in the Roman settlement of Pompeii.

The images below show the impact of a pyroclastic flow from the Fuego volcano on the town of San Miguel Los Lotes, Guatemala in 2018.

Flows of volcanic ash, mud, rock and water, known as lahars, are a deadly after-effect of volcanic eruptions. In 1985, lahars contributed to the 25 000 death-toll following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia.

Why do people live close to volcanoes?

Despite their hazardous nature, many people live in areas that are likely to experience volcanic eruptions. They do so for several reasons, including:

• Volcanoes provide raw materials – sulphur, gold, zinc and diamonds can be mined and sold.

• Volcanoes attract tourists – locals provide guided tours, and there are business opportunities in tourism , such a providing accommodation and food.
• Volcanic soils are very fertile, and crop yields are high – volcanic soils on the flanks of volcanoes and the surrounding area provide excellent opportunities to farmers.

Geothermal energy power station in Iceland

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How are volcanoes and earthquakes interrelated?

• Updated 17/11/22
• Read time 5 minutes

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Both volcanoes and earthquakes occur due to movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates. They are both caused by the heat and energy releasing from the Earth’s core. Earthquakes can trigger volcanic eruptions through severe movement of tectonic plates. Similarly, volcanoes can trigger earthquakes through the movement of magma within a volcano. Therefore, one aspect of how are volcanoes and earthquakes interrelated is the cyclical relationship where earthquakes cause volcanic eruptions and magma movement causes earthquakes.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in itself are dangerous natural phenomena which poses risk to humans. Furthermore, tsunamis are an equally deadly secondary effect caused by underwater disturbances such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, underwater explosions or meteorite impacts which pose significant danger to human lives.

What are tectonic plates and how do they explain volcanoes and earthquakes?

The outer layer of the Earth is made up of solid rock, called lithosphere. The lithosphere is broken up into 17 major separate pieces that fit together like a bad jigsaw puzzle. A piece of the puzzle is called a tectonic plate . The plates are horribly placed, with overlapping pieces, gaps, and are forced to fit with each other even when they don’t. Because the tectonic plates don’t go well together, it creates earthquakes and volcanic activity when two plates collide, diverge or slide past each other.

There are three types of boundaries caused by tectonic plates on Earth: first, transform boundaries when two plates slide or grind past each other. Transform boundaries are horizontal movements of plates and do not create or destroy plates. Second, divergent boundaries when two plates create a gap in between each other. Divergent boundaries create ocean basins when plates move apart from one another. Third, convergent boundaries when two plates crash towards each other and overlap to form a subduction zone.

Tectonic plates are extremely large and can encompass both land and ocean. These tectonic plates interact with one another because of the Earth’s internal heat. This heat causes movement of material beneath the Earth’s crust and releases energy in the form of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Interactions between the tectonic plates occurs in three main places: first, oceanic-continental convergence, where the continent meets the ocean. Second, continental-continental convergence, where two continents meet. Last, oceanic-oceanic convergence, where two oceans meet.

So, how are volcanoes and earthquakes interrelated? Both volcanoes and earthquakes are caused along the boundaries of tectonic plates due to their movements and interactions.

How dangerous are volcanoes and earthquakes to humans?

How many deaths there are and how severe a natural disaster is depends on the interactions we have as humans with our environment. A strong earthquake can be completely overlooked if it happens in the middle of land where hardly any people live in, for example in December 2003, when a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Central California killed two people. Consequently, a similar earthquake in a densely populated metropolitan area can cause many deaths, injuries and destruction of property, for example, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in Bam, Iran killing 30,000 people, injuring 30,000 more and destroying 85% of property.

The same goes for volcanic eruptions, if an underwater volcano erupted in the middle of the ocean, it would have little impact to humans living far inland. However, if the volcano had been dormant for a significant amount of time and humans started populating the land close to the base of a volcano it would be devastating should it ever erupt. Further, indirect consequences of a volcanic eruption can have a greater impact than the eruption itself. For example, volcanic ash can induce climate change that have serious agricultural, economic, and sociological impacts on people’s lives.

Read these articles to learn more about the structure of the volcano and the internal structure of the volcano .

To find out more about where the next volcano will erupt in Australia, read this article.

Tsunamis as a result of earthquakes or volcanic activity

Tsunamis are giant waves that occur when a large volume of water is displaced. The most common causes of underwater disturbances that lead to tsunamis are earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, especially because most volcanoes are underwater. Although tsunamis can also be caused by landslides, meteorite impacts and underwater explosions. Tsunami waves travel extremely fast, with wave speeds reaching up to 900 km/h in deep water. The waves get taller the closer they reach the shoreline because of rapidly decreasing depth of the sea floor, and slow down to 20 – 50 km/h.

We can deduce that volcanoes and earthquakes are caused by tectonic plate movements, they both pose a significant danger to humans, and result in deadly secondary effects like tsunamis.

Additional Reading

https://web.archive.org/web/20120913041924/http://www.enviroliteracy.org/nsfmod/NaturesFury.pdf

https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/earthquakes-and-tsunamis/

https://australian.museum/learn/minerals/shaping-earth/plate-tectonic-processes/

https://media.australian.museum/media/dd/Uploads/Documents/4645/volcano_structure.134d97b.pdf

https://australian.museum/learn/minerals/shaping-earth/structure-of-volcanoes/

https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/amri-where-next-volcano-erupt-in-australia/

The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands.

Image credit: gadigal yilimung (shield) made by Uncle Charles  Chicka  Madden

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Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are incredible and dramatic natural events. On this page you can learn more about the science behind them:

• Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun Eruption Learn about the 2014 Bárðarbunga eruption and the massive Holuhraun lava field that it created.
• Fascinating Facts Discover interesting facts that you might not know about earthquakes and volcanoes.

Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun Eruption

Iceland sits on crack in the surface of the Earth where two tectonic plates (large blocks that make up the outer most layer of the Earth) are ripping apart from each other. These two blocks are moving apart at around 2 cm per year (approximately the rate that your finger nails grow) and are slowly widening the Atlantic Ocean; increasing the distance from Europe to North America. As the tectonic plates split apart magma (molten rock) wells up from below forming volcanoes, which creates new land in between. This rifting process is happening all the way down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean beneath the sea. But at Iceland we see the process on land because a hot upwelling from deep within the Earth also sits beneath Iceland, pushing it upwards out of the sea and making the area even more volcanically active.

Iceland has over 30 active volcanic systems, which have a central volcano in the middle with long cracks spreading outwards to the north and south (fissure swarms). Magma (molten rock) can erupt from the central volcano itself, or travel through the cracks of the fissure swarm to create long lines of eruptions far from the volcano itself.

The main volcanic rift zones in Iceland, with Bárðarbunga volcano beneath the Vatnajökull ice sheet.

When you think of Icelandic volcanoes, the one you will probably remember is the eruption of the volcano with the long, hard to pronounce name that had news readers getting their tongues in a twist: Eyjafjallajökull, which sits under a glacier in southern Iceland. This volcano erupted in 2010 and was all over the news because it produced so much ash that it grounded 100,000 flights and closed European air space. The main reason why this eruption was so ash heavy was due to the interaction of the hot magma erupting under the cold overlying ice. But a couple of years later in 2014 there was another eruption in Iceland, at a volcano called Bárðarbunga. It was the largest eruption in Iceland in over 200 years, and was 10 times bigger than than the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, but it didn't ground a single flight.

The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 created a large ash plume that blew across western Europe .

Bárðarbunga volcano is right in the middle of Iceland in the remote and uninhabited highlands. It sits underneath the massive Vatnajökull glacier, covered by around 800 m of thick ice. Scientists first knew something interesting was happening at Bárðarbunga in August of 2014 when hundreds of tiny earthquakes were detected within the volcano deep below the ice. Teams rushed out to deploy more seismic instruments to record the earthquakes and determine where they were happening more accurately. Scientists were flown up onto the glacier in helicopters, before speeding around on snow scooters to get the essential instruments out as quickly as possible.

Bárðarbunga volcano beneath the Vatnajökull ice sheet.

Over the next two weeks the country watched closely as the 30,000 tiny earthquakes tracked the underground movement of the magma as it cracked a 46 km long path through the earth’s crust. The earthquake activity moved gradually northwards, away from the volcano at 6 km down within the earth, as authorities and scientists tried to guess where and when the magma would move upwards and erupt at the surface. Would the eruption happen under the glacier producing an ash heavy eruption like Eyjafjallajökull, or would it travel far enough away from the glacier that it wouldn't interact with the ice? Or maybe it wouldn't erupt at all, and the molten rock would stay deep within the earth, cooling and solidifying to form an igneous intrusion? The magma movement was also tracked using GPS and satellite measurements. The GPS were able to measure ground movement caused by the magma pushing into the earth and shoving material outwards to either side by up to 1.5 m. This helped scientists to understand the shape that the magma was flowing in—a vertical sheet of molten rock known as a dyke, about 5 m wide.

3-D visualisation of earthquake epicentres through time as the magmatic dyke propagated from the Bárðarbunga central volcano to the Holuhraun eruption site.

The dyke advanced in rapid bursts with an average speed of 2 km per hour, reaching speeds of up to 4.7 km per hour. In the end the dyke travelled 46 km away from the feeder volcano Bárðarbunga before erupting at the surface on a river flood plain away from the glacier. The eruption, which was named Holuhraun, saw runny fluid lava thrown up to 200 m into the air (higher than Big Ben!), in pulsating fire fountains, before flowing away as rivers of molten rock. There was no central eruption point, instead the eruption happened all the way down the length of a 1.5 km long eruptive fissure that over time concentrated down to a few craters, and finally to one main crater called Baugur. The amount of thermal energy the eruption produced was tremendous; equivalent to the energy of a Hiroshima sized atomic bomb being set off every 2 minutes!

The Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun eruption in action, with a lava flow extending across the sandur and volcanic gases issuing from the volcanic vent.

Footage of the 2014 Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun eruption.

The eruption lasted for 6 months, eventually stopping in February 2015. By then it had produced 1.6 km 3 of lava, covering an area of 85 km 2 – large enough to cover the city of Cambridge twice ( how much of your area would it have covered? ). Because there was no interaction with ice, only a minute amount of ash was produced. However it did release around 11 M tones of SO 2 – more than the whole of Europe produces in a year! This was the main hazard of the eruption as the gas was blown around on the wind affecting large numbers of the population. Ground level concentrations of SO 2 exceeded health limits over most of Iceland for days to weeks, with the high concentrations of SO 2 can cause breathing difficulties and eye irritation.

The extent of the Holuhraun lava flow in red.

It's very important to carefully monitor volcanoes to try and understand what kind of eruption they might have and what hazards that could present. The Holuhraun eruption was not hazardous to planes since it was an effusive eruption and it didn’t create a huge eruption column, but if the eruption had happened under the ice it would have been a completely different story. Measuring the tiny earthquakes that happen in volcanoes, gives us a powerful tool we can use to see inside the earth and track where molten rock is moving beneath the surface. Keeping track of these observations can help inform public bodies, aiding their decision making and their planning of hazard mitigation strategies.

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Fascinating Facts

Iceland facts.

• The population of Iceland is 330,000 , or approximately the population of Reading.
• Two-thirds of the Icelandic population live in the capital city, Reykjavik .
• More than one million people visit Iceland each year on holiday, about three times its population.
• All of Iceland's heating and electricity is renewable, either from hydroelectric or geothermal methods.
• The UK went to war with Iceland once over fish!
• Good morning in Icelandic is ‘Góðan dag’ .
• An earthquake swarm precedes eruption of the Icelandic volcano Hekla by 30 minutes, which is unhelpful if you are on the volcano, but enough time to get the news helicopters in the air from Reykjavik!
• There are about 130 volcanoes in Iceland.

Bárðarbunga- Holuhraun eruption facts

• The Holuhraun lava flow covers an area of 84 km 2 .
• During eruption, lava fountains sprayed lava up to 150 m high , which is taller than Big Ben!
• The eruption released vast amounts of thermal energy, equivalent to: releasing a Hiroshima atomic bomb every minute (in the first month), and every two minutes (on average over the six-month-long eruption).
• The Holuhraun lava flow released 100 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of Europe.
• More than 30,000  small earthquakes were detected accompanying the magma intrusion.
• The peak rate of magma release was around  500 tonnes per second .
• Members of the Volcano Seismology Group from the University of Cambridge were the first people to see the eruption with their own eyes. They tracked the eruption in collaboration with the Icelandic Met Office and the University of Iceland during the first weeks of the eruption before they had to (reluctantly) go home.
• Instruments were placed so close to the eruption site that they had to be rescued from the advancing lava.
• The intrusion, and subsequent lava flow, was monitored in real-time by more than 100 seismometers, more than 30 GPS instruments, three satellites, and four webcams.

Eyjafjallajökull eruption facts

• The Eyjafjallajökull eruption ejected ash 35,000 feet into the air.
• The Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud grounded over 100,000 flights, which cost the aviation industry an estimated   £1.1 billion .
• To volcano’s name is pronounced: "EY - A - FYAT - LA - YO - KUTL" .
• The eruption caused several glacial floods (jökulhaups) when hot magma melted ice in the overlying glacier.
• Small earthquakes were detected by the Cambridge Volcano Seismology Group down to a depth of 30 km below the surface, as molten rock stored at depth migrated during the eruption.

Earthquake and seismology facts

• The magnitude scale of earthquakes is logarithmic, so every step up the scale is an earthquake ten times bigger. A magnitude 2.0 event is, therefore, ten million times smaller than the 2004 boxing day earthquake (magnitude 9.0).
• Humans have only ever dug to a depth of 12 km; less than 1% of the Earth's total thickness. The only reason we know anything about the internal structure of the Earth is because earthquake waves travel through it, and become modified by the material that they travel through.
• The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the Earth each year. Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes. The NEIC (National Earthquake Information Centre) now locates about 50 earthquakes each day (larger than magnitude 4.5), or around 20,000 a year.
• We get earthquakes in the UK, a few every couple of days. However, they are just very small, generally less than magnitude 2, which means that they are just too small for people to feel.
• The largest earthquake to ever happen in the UK was a magnitude 6.1 off the east coast of England in the North Sea.
• The most damaging earthquake in the UK in recent history was in 1884 near Colchester.  We don’t know exactly how large it was (probably around magnitude 4.5), but historical records show that some 1200 buildings required repairs, and three to five people were killed.

Volcano facts

• There are about 1500 active volcanoes in the world.
• 300 million, or one-in-twenty, people in the world live within the 'danger range' of an active volcano.
• About 1,500 different volcanoes have erupted over the past 10,000 years, but only about 60 erupt each year. On any given day, there are about 20 volcanoes erupting somewhere in the world.
• Many volcanoes are underwater and erupt onto the sea floor.

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Plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes.

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The Earth rumbles and a hiss of steam issues from the top of Mt Ruapehu. Are these two events related? Is the earthquake caused by the volcano? Or is the steam caused by the earthquake?

Tectonic plates

When Alfred Wegener first proposed the idea of continental drift (the precursor idea to plate tectonic theory), it didn’t quite explain the full story. While he correctly showed that Africa and South America fitted together, his model wasn’t able to explain the violent forces that occur around the Earth’s crust.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that a full explanation began to develop – the theory of plate tectonics. This theory explained many pieces of the puzzle that scientists had observed, for example, continental fit, matching geology, past glaciation, movements of the ocean floor and the location of fossils of ancient animals and plants.

Scientists now believe that the crust of the Earth consists of rigid interconnecting plates (6 major plates and a few smaller ones). Plates are thought to float on the partially molten mantle, moving away from oceanic ridges where new plate material is produced and moving past each other or colliding along plate boundaries. Earthquakes and volcanoes are related to this movement.

Explore plate tectonics further.

Colliding plates

Where plates come into contact, energy is released. Plates sliding past each other cause friction and heat. Subducting plates melt into the mantle, and diverging plates create new crust material.

Subducting plates, where one tectonic plate is being driven under another, are associated with volcanoes and earthquakes. This activity is focused along the edge of the plate boundary where two plates come into contact, forming regions such as the Pacific Ring of Fire – a chain of earthquake and volcanic activity around the edge of the Pacific Ocean – which generates 75% of the world’s volcanoes and 80% of the world’s earthquakes.

Diverging plates

When plates move away from each other, the space between them gets filled with material, which rises to the surface, cools and forms mid-oceanic ridges. The Pacific Ocean is growing wider by about 18 cm per year as the plates diverge and the mid-oceanic ridge is built up.

Subducting plates and volcanoes

Plate material that is produced along the ocean floor is generally quite dense and relatively heavy. Continental plates don’t tend to get subducted. When oceanic plate is pushed from the mid-ocean ridge towards a plate boundary with a continental plate, it tends to subduct or dive below the continental crust. In this process, water is also being subducted with the oceanic plate. Friction increases the heat along such boundaries, which causes this material to melt and mix the oceanic plate material, the continental plate material and the water.

Andesite volcanoes tend to form at these subduction boundaries. This may have something to do with differences in plate densities and the release of gases, such as water vapour. As more heat is being produced through the subduction process, the mix of more and less volatile ingredients causes changes in density and pressure, which are linked to volcanic activity.

Volcanoes and earthquakes

Volcanoes and earthquakes are often found in the same place, but are they related? Does one trigger the other? The answer seems to be yes – but not always. They are sometimes linked but are often independent events.

When a volcano erupts, the pressure of the rising magma forcing its way through the crust to the surface will often trigger earthquake activity. Scientists have been able to demonstrate this link and also know what type of earthquake to look for.

Conversely, an earthquake may trigger subsequent eruptions. As the crust changes and moves in a major earthquake, fissures or cracks can form that may act as pipelines for magma and future volcanoes. This is harder to monitor and test and is an area of active research.

Related content

Use the teaching resource Earthquakes New Zealand to learn about seven activities designed to help students develop an understanding about earthquakes in New Zealand, including why we get them and how we measure them.

There are many volcanoes in the Pacific, including the very large Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapa underwater one. Read about the devastating Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapa volcanic eruption in January 2022, the tsunami that followed, and what we might expect next? This article looks at what we’ve learnt a year later about this violent eruption and predicting future submarine volcanic eruptions.

Realistic contexts connect students to authentic scientific processes and purposes, it's all explained in:

• Earthquakes resources – planning pathways
• Volcanoes resources – planning pathways

Earthquakes is a collection supports the House of Science Earthquakes resource kit – but it is also useful for anyone exploring Rūaumoko, what's inside the Earth, plate tectonics, seismic waves and engineering designed to keep us safe.

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NASA and the Smithsonian Teach the World about Volcanoes

The Smithsonian Institution dedicates itself to spreading knowledge as far and wide as possible – a goal that aligns quite well with NASA’s mission to help understand Earth's interconnected systems. To further these goals, NASA's Earth Applied Sciences Disasters program area teamed up with the Smithsonian to contribute to the Global Volcanism Program ( GVP ) to teach the public about volcanoes and share Earth-observing data in support of volcano risk reduction, response and recovery. The Smithsonian’s GVP currently contains the world’s most comprehensive catalog of volcanoes and volcanic eruptions, known as the Volcanoes of the World database ( VOTW ), and is trusted worldwide. The GVP’s website is freely accessible and provides viewers with a highly visible platform for education, outreach, and dissemination of global volcanic data.

NASA’s Disasters program and the GVP have been working together to promote volcanic awareness for almost a decade now. In 2012, NASA first supported the GVP through its MEaSUREs program ( Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments ) to archive the climate data record of volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions for past and current GVP-reported eruptions. Then, in 2015, NASA and the Michigan Technological University collaborated with the GVP to add multi-satellite volcanic SO2 emissions data to the VOTW.

In 2016, the GVP launched “ Eruptions, Earthquakes, and Emissions ,” or “E3,” a web application that combines data from the USGS, NASA, and the GVP and provides users with a time-lapse animation of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes since 1960, as well as volcanic SO2 emissions since 1978. Before E3, there was no single available source of global datasets on volcanic emissions, eruptions, and earthquakes in a common format. Now, users can access all this consolidated information online and download data straight from the application, providing a simple and intuitive mechanism for scientists and the public to access the data.

“NASA satellite observations are critical for global volcano monitoring, but while NASA data are publicly available, it can be difficult for the general public to visualize and interact with the data,” explains Nickolay Krotkov, Physical Research Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and principal investigator of the NASA ROSES A.37 research project " Day-Night Monitoring of Volcanic SO2 and Ash for Aviation Avoidance at Northern Polar Latitudes ." “Hosting NASA's volcanic emissions data in the Smithsonian GVP’s globally recognized VOTW database, including the E3 application, provides a unique opportunity for public engagement with NASA’s products.”

Currently, VOTW hosts NASA volcanic data from NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument ( OMI ), Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite ( OMPS ), and the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument ( TROPOMI ) aboard the ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5 precursor satellite. NASA uses data from these projects to regularly update the GVP database and the E3 application, presenting the Smithsonian with new events and information as they become available.

In 2023, NASA plans to launch a new satellite that will allow for an even more detailed view of the Earth. This satellite, a product of a joint Earth-observing mission with the Indian Space Research Organization ( ISRO ), is known as NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), and is predicted to provide the GVP with even more timely volcanic information. Through working with like-minded organizations such as the Smithsonian and ISRO, the NASA Disasters program can share resources and reach a larger audience, thus furthering scientific discovery and public knowledge at the same time. NASA’s collaboration with the Smithsonian is one of many invaluable partnerships that help NASA turn innovation into action.

Learn more about how NASA supports risk reduction, response and recovery for volcanoes.

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The surface of the Earth is made up of tectonic plates that lie beneath both the land and oceans of our planet. The movements of these plates can build mountains or cause volcanoes to erupt. The clash of these plates can also cause violent earthquakes, where Earth’s surface shakes. Earthquakes are more common in some parts of the world than others, because some places, like California, sit on top of the meeting point, or fault, of two plates. When those plates scrape against each other and cause an earthquake, the results can be deadly and devastating.

Learn more about earthquakes with this curated collection of classroom resources.

Geology, Geography, Physical Geography

Earthquake Essay for Students and Children

500+ Words Essay on Earthquake

Simply speaking, Earthquake means the shaking of the Earth’s surface. It is a sudden trembling of the surface of the Earth. Earthquakes certainly are a terrible natural disaster. Furthermore, Earthquakes can cause huge damage to life and property. Some Earthquakes are weak in nature and probably go unnoticed. In contrast, some Earthquakes are major and violent. The major Earthquakes are almost always devastating in nature. Most noteworthy, the occurrence of an Earthquake is quite unpredictable. This is what makes them so dangerous.

Types of Earthquake

Tectonic Earthquake: The Earth’s crust comprises of the slab of rocks of uneven shapes. These slab of rocks are tectonic plates. Furthermore, there is energy stored here. This energy causes tectonic plates to push away from each other or towards each other. As time passes, the energy and movement build up pressure between two plates.

Therefore, this enormous pressure causes the fault line to form. Also, the center point of this disturbance is the focus of the Earthquake. Consequently, waves of energy travel from focus to the surface. This results in shaking of the surface.

Volcanic Earthquake: This Earthquake is related to volcanic activity. Above all, the magnitude of such Earthquakes is weak. These Earthquakes are of two types. The first type is Volcano-tectonic earthquake. Here tremors occur due to injection or withdrawal of Magma. In contrast, the second type is Long-period earthquake. Here Earthquake occurs due to the pressure changes among the Earth’s layers.

Collapse Earthquake: These Earthquakes occur in the caverns and mines. Furthermore, these Earthquakes are of weak magnitude. Undergrounds blasts are probably the cause of collapsing of mines. Above all, this collapsing of mines causes seismic waves. Consequently, these seismic waves cause an Earthquake.

Explosive Earthquake: These Earthquakes almost always occur due to the testing of nuclear weapons. When a nuclear weapon detonates, a big blast occurs. This results in the release of a huge amount of energy. This probably results in Earthquakes.

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Effects of Earthquakes

First of all, the shaking of the ground is the most notable effect of the Earthquake. Furthermore, ground rupture also occurs along with shaking. This results in severe damage to infrastructure facilities. The severity of the Earthquake depends upon the magnitude and distance from the epicenter. Also, the local geographical conditions play a role in determining the severity. Ground rupture refers to the visible breaking of the Earth’s surface.

Another significant effect of Earthquake is landslides. Landslides occur due to slope instability. This slope instability happens because of Earthquake.

Earthquakes can cause soil liquefaction. This happens when water-saturated granular material loses its strength. Therefore, it transforms from solid to a liquid. Consequently, rigid structures sink into the liquefied deposits.

Earthquakes can result in fires. This happens because Earthquake damages the electric power and gas lines. Above all, it becomes extremely difficult to stop a fire once it begins.

Earthquakes can also create the infamous Tsunamis. Tsunamis are long-wavelength sea waves. These sea waves are caused by the sudden or abrupt movement of large volumes of water. This is because of an Earthquake in the ocean. Above all, Tsunamis can travel at a speed of 600-800 kilometers per hour. These tsunamis can cause massive destruction when they hit the sea coast.

In conclusion, an Earthquake is a great and terrifying phenomenon of Earth. It shows the frailty of humans against nature. It is a tremendous occurrence that certainly shocks everyone. Above all, Earthquake lasts only for a few seconds but can cause unimaginable damage.

FAQs on Earthquake

Q1 Why does an explosive Earthquake occurs?

A1 An explosive Earthquake occurs due to the testing of nuclear weapons.

Q2 Why do landslides occur because of Earthquake?

A2 Landslides happen due to slope instability. Most noteworthy, this slope instability is caused by an Earthquake.

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Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, Floods and Volcanic Eruption Term Paper

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Introduction

Natural disasters are rapid and instantaneous occurrences that cause extreme devastation to the environment and the socioeconomic systems. The world is prone to many natural disasters though the the socioeconomic impacts can be mitigated. It is estimated that a third of the world economic cost is channeled towards prediction and mitigating disasters.

Death tolls vary from one catastrophe to another as some countries are vulnerable to these disasters recording a large number of deaths (Abbott, 12). An example is Japan, which is known to have experienced frequent and different types of disasters in the past (Kisslinger, 37). This paper discusses earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruption.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes have rocked the earth for a long period. Scientists do not have exact reasons why earthquakes occur. However, the only explanation given is that they occur when plates shift positions or collide. It is clear that some areas of the earth experience frequent and deadly earthquake more than others. Scientists study earthquakes using seismographs to locate the epicenter and for future predictions. Scientists have observed that different regions may have different earthquake precursors.

Therefore, to avoid faulty warnings, the tools used should monitor a wide range of parameters for vulnerable areas of the world. Predictions are made using data and observations in dense networks of epicenter areas (Abbott, 17). This will help in the future monitory of small earthquakes of six magnitudes and below. This is important since the techniques would help in predicting large future earthquakes for earthquake control. Today, experiments are done for future earthquake control in Colorado rangelands.

However, further studies are still necessary for reality in terms of understanding the physical processes involved, magnitudes, rock characteristics. This knowledge will play a significant role in earthquake control modification models and earthquake feasibility. The success of future predictions depends on the manpower commitment to seismological programs (Kisslinger 38).

California, San Fransico, 1906

San Fransico was occupied mainly by Spanish from Mexico. By 1906, the population was about half a million. The city experienced small, yearly earthquakes, and everyone knew about earthquakes. The city is built on the pacific and north America tectonic plates over the San Andreas fault stretching for about eight hundred miles and sixteen kilometers deep (Prokos, 43).

There are many other fault lines in the region. Each year, scientists record about 20,000 strong tremors. On 18th April 1906, a great earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit the city at 5.00 am while people were still sleeping. Three thousand people lost their lives in this incident. The underling plates slid horizontally past each other.

Chimneys crumbled into pieces; buildings collapsed and crushed people while some were trapped. The streets split into two. Several days after the quake, the city was still in flames as the fire fighters could not extinguish the flames. Many people died instantly while others drowned in the flooded buildings as they could not escape. The aftershock flattened the already damaged buildings disrupting the recovery process (Weil, 17).

The calamity caused death of thousands of people, and almost all the material wealth were destroyed by fire. It caused both administrative and economic mess. The inhabitants described the disaster as a fire storm because the most destruction was done by the fire. The American and British insurance company settled the cost of losses at 65.3% and 34.3% respectively (Röder, 37).

After this disaster, the chiefs of major insurance companies pushed for major changes to improve the building codes and the infrastructure (Röder, 42). In January 2010, the population of San Francisco city was expected to be about 809, 249. This was extrapolated from US census of 2000.

The earth was formed million of years ago from a hot mess that split from the solar system. The force of gravity separated the earth into layers as heavier materials settled at the center whereas lighter materials settled on the outer surface. Volcanoes are known to release the pressure of the molten magma when the overlying rocks can no longer contain the pressure through eruption.

There are two kinds of volcanic mountain. The active volcano is expected to erupt in the future while the dormant volcanoes are not likely to erupt in the future. Some erupt for months and years while others erupts quickly and stop. A volcanic eruption is one of the most feared natural disasters. Volcanic eruptions cause extreme destruction to people, land, vegetation, landscape, buildings, roads and other infrastructure.

Major volcanic eruptions occur killing and injuring inhabitants of the volcanic active regions. Apart from the visible dangers of volcanoes, they can be a poisonous thereby killing living organism in case of contact. The dark ashes from the volcanoes may have several mixtures of gases resulting in air pollution (Thompson and Turk 31).

Prediction and risk assessment

Many volcanoes are active and thus the geologists should predict an eruption to reduce potential disasters. One should understand the tectonic environment of a given region as a first step for prediction. This is due to the relationship between an eruption and the geology of the area.

The previous frequencies and the magnitudes of eruptions are critical during future risk assessment. Regional predictions can estimate the time of a future earthquake, but cannot predict the intensity. Short term predictions are more accurate than regional predictions. In this case, short term focuses on detecting signs and time for an active volcano. Some signs can be seen in the changes within the surrounding land such as smoke or gas emissions, temperature of the nearby hot springs, and earthquake (Thompson and Turk 40).

The eruption of Mt St. Helens, 1980

The last time there was an eruption at Mt Helens was in 1857. Two US geologists predicted that the mountain would erupt before the end of the century due to the past frequent and violent eruptions. An earthquake occurred below the volcano causing small eruptions that led to a greater eruption two months later.

Geologists installed seismographs and surveying tools to record signs of the seismic activities. Sensitive and sophisticated equipments were used to detect changes in the ground water and temperature increase prior to the eruption. It was observed that the mountain swelled and increased in size due to the upward force of magma.

The results showed that the mountain could erupt again, and thus the government was advised to vacate the civilians to avoid loss of lives. These instruments were used in the Philippines in 1991 where lives were saved. David Johnstone is one of the unlucky scientists whom have been caught off guard and killed. The eruption flattened a vast area of thirty five by twenty kilometers. Some people were engulfed by the dark cloud debris as they tried to escape.

The high temperatures melted the mountain ice resulting in strong mud flows that flattened the vegetation and moved vehicles and buildings. The mud reached the Columbia river where it destroyed the river biodiversity. Ash clouds of high temperature smoldered everything in their path. The area still shows the effects of the disaster though the vegetation is slowly regenerating. The forest service has managed to replant trees, especially on the plain ground (Thompson and Turk 56).

Floods are natural occurrences that shape the landscape, ecological habitats, and ecosystems. Floods can cause loss of lives and property destruction. Thus, it is advisable for vulnerable regions take steps to predict and control floods. Poor land use methods in the rural and urban areas can cause flooding.

Different regions of Europe have experienced major flood problems between 1998 and 2000 due to climate change. It is predicted that floods will increase in Europe given the recent frequency. It is estimated that over 25 billion Euros insured economic losses experienced and about seven hundred fatalities. It was estimated that around 1.5% of the Europeans were affected by floods that covered expansive areas (International commission for the protection of Dandube river basin floods 3).

Danube river basin 2002

The flood affected the following countries: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania. The flash flood Suceuva that is northern Romania led to massive deaths of citizens. Over sixteen thousand houses were flooded. Hundreds of kilometers of roads were destroyed, and close to five hundred bridges were destroyed.

The destruction of infrastructure also affected communication systems. The gas and electricity network were also damaged. Several municipalities in Hungary were affected with more than twenty thousand people being vacated from their homes. More than 4,370 homes were damaged. The presence of prevention structures and well executed emergency interventions minimized the possible overall damage.

Emergency operations were valued at thirty three million Euros, and over ten million Euros were needed for rehabilitation. The central parts of Slovakia were the most affected as 144 settlements and thousands of hectares were flooded. Damages were valued at €36.2 million, and emergency costs amounted to €2.2 million.

The 20 communities in the Morava river basin, Czech Republic were affected especially in regard to agriculture and infrastructure resulting in a €11.7 million damage cost. Over 10,000 homes and infrastructure were destroyed in lower and upper Austria. The total damage amounted to €3.1bilion.

In Germany, the Inn, Traun, Regen, and Salzach tributary areas were slightly affected due to the regulating structures that reduced a potentially extended damage. The 2006 floods caused swelling of rivers and many people abandoned their homes due to high water levels.

This was a major flooding experienced in the Danube in the last 100 years. The international commission for the protection of the Danube area revised the hydrology of the area to develop ways to support the national preparedness. The report from this meeting proposed possible solutions and the way forward to minimize damage in the future (International commission for the protection of Dandube river basin floods 5).

This paper has presented a few of the major natural disasters that the world has experienced. Natural disasters happen due to natural causes. However, experts should engage in prediction of the occurrence of natural disasters to issue alerts before the disasters strike. It is evident that disaster preparedness has been critical in reducing the magnitude of devastation in the past. Therefore, various governments should adopt mitigation measures that can assist in minimizing the impacts of the disasters.

Works Cited

Abbott, Patrick L. Natural Disasters . Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.

International commission for the protection of Dandube river basin floods, 2006. Web.

Kisslinger, Carl. Earthquake predictions. Physics Today , 27. 3. (1974): 36-42. Print.

Prokos, Anna. Earthquakes . Pleasantville, NY: Gareth Stevens Pub, 2009. Print.

Röder, Tilmann J. From Industrial to Legal Standardization, 1871-1914: Transnational Insurance Law and the Great San Francisco Earthquake . Leiden [u.a.: Martinus Nijhoff Brill, 2011. Print.

Thompson, Graham R. and J. Turk. Earth Science and the Environment . Australia: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2007. Print.

Weil, Ann. Earthquakes . Costa Mesa, Calif.: Saddleback Educational Pub, 2013. Print.

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• Earthquake Essay

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Earthquakes are some of the most devastating natural disasters. Millions of dollars worth of property are damaged and a hundred die every time a big magnitude of eater quake strikes.  It is in this regard that everyone must read and know about earthquakes and be prepared to mitigate the damage. Furthermore, the topic of earthquakes is quite often asked in exams. Preparing for this topic will enable them to have an edge and score more marks in the English paper.

To serve the above-mentioned purpose, Vedantu has come up with the Earthquake essay. This essay is prepared by the experts who know what exactly is required to know and weeding out points that are not important. The essay is very precise and would surely allow students to successfully claim marks in the essay question and even stay prepared when an earthquake actually strikes.

What is an Earthquake?

When the earth’s surface shakes, the phenomenon is referred to as an earthquake. Precisely, the sudden trembling of the earth’s surface is the cause of an earthquake. Earthquakes are regarded as one of the deadliest natural disasters. Huge damage and loss of property are caused by earthquakes. There are various types of earthquakes. Some of them are severe in nature. The most dangerous thing about an earthquake is that it is quite unpredictable. It can cause several damages without any previous indication. The intensity of an earthquake is measured by the Richter’s scale. Generally, earthquakes occur due to the movement of tectonic plates under the earth’s surface.

Types of Earthquake

There are four kinds of earthquakes namely 

Tectonic Earthquake,

Volcanic Earthquake, 

Collapse Earthquake and 

Explosive Earthquake.

Tectonic Earthquake 

It is caused due to the movement of the slab of rocks of uneven shapes that lie underneath the earth’s crust. Apart from that, energy is stored in the earth’s crust. Tectonic plates are pushed away from each other or towards each other due to the energy. A pressure is formed because of the energy and movement as time passes. A fault line is formed due to severe pressure. The center point of this dispersion is the epicenter of the earthquake. Subsequently, traveling of the waves of energy from focus to the surface causes the tremor.

Volcanic Earthquake

The earthquake caused by volcanic activity is called a volcanic earthquake. These kinds of earthquakes are of weaker magnitudes. Volcanic earthquakes are categorized into two types. In the first type, which is called volcano-tectonic, shaking happens due to input or withdrawal of Magma. In the second type, which is termed as Long-period earthquake, tremors occur due to changing of pressure among the earth’s layers.

Collapse Earthquake

Collapse Earthquake is the third type of earthquake that occurs in the caverns and mines. This is another example of a weak magnitude earthquake. Mines collapsed due to underground blasts. Consequently, seismic waves are formed due to this collapsing. Earthquakes occur because of these seismic waves.

Explosive Earthquake

The fourth type of earthquake is called an explosive earthquake. This is caused due to the testing of nuclear weapons.

Effects of Earthquake

The effects of earthquakes are very severe and deadly. 

It can cause irreparable damage to property and loss of human lives. The lethality of an earthquake depends on its distance from the epicentre. 

Damage to establishments is the direct impact of an earthquake. In the hilly areas, several landslides are caused due to earthquakes.  

Another major impact of an earthquake is soil liquefaction. Losing the strength of water-saturated granular material is the cause behind this. The rigidity of soil is totally lost due to this.

Since the earthquake affects the electric power and gas lines, it can cause a fire to break out. 

Deadly Tsunamis are caused due to earthquakes. Gigantic sea waves are caused by the sudden or abnormal movement of huge volumes of water. This is called an earthquake in the ocean. When tsunamis hit the sea coasts, they cause a massive loss of lives and properties. 

Earthquake is termed as one of the most huge and lethal natural disasters in the world. It proves the fact that human beings are just nothing in front of nature. The sudden occurrence of earthquakes shocks everyone. Scientists are working rigorously to prevent the damage of earthquakes, but nothing fruitful has been achieved yet.

Examples of Devastating Earthquake

The city of Kobe in Japan witnessed a devastating earthquake on January  17, 1995, killing more than 6,000 and making more than 45,000 people homeless.  The magnitude of the quake was 6.9 at the moment which caused damage of around 100 million dollars.  The governor of Kobe spent years on reconstruction and made efforts to bring back fifty thousand people who had left home.  Japan geologically is a highly active country. It lies upon four major tectonic plates namely, Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, and North American which frequently meet and interact.

The second incident is in Nepal where an earthquake struck on April 25, 2015. About 9000 people were killed and almost 600,000 structures were destroyed.  The magnitude of the quake was 7.9 and the repels were felt by neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, China and India.  The disaster caused severe damage of millions of dollars. All the countries across the world including India garnered to help Nepal by sending monetary aid, medical supplies, transport helicopters and others.

FAQs on Earthquake Essay

1. How to download the Earthquake Essay?

The Earthquake essay is available on Vedantu's website in PDF format. The PDF could be downloaded on any device, be it android, apple or windows.    One just has to log on to www.vedantu.com and download the document. The document is totally free of cost and a student does not need to pay any prior registration fee.  

2. How to protect oneself during an earthquake?

Earthquakes could be very disastrous and can cause a lot of collateral damage.  During an earthquake you can look for the corners to hide. Another safe place to hide is under the table or under the bed. If one is sitting in a multistory building, avoid taking a lift and only use the stairs. In this kind of situation, one should never panic and stay calm.  Let the earthquake pass until then keep hiding in the safe spot. Once over, come out to evaluate the situation and take appropriate actions.

3. How to mitigate the effects of an earthquake?

Prevention is better than cure. It is always a better idea to take necessary actions before an earthquake has struck. In the first place, send a copy of all your documents to someone reliable. In case of an earthquake that destroys your important documents, there would always remain a facility to retrieve them.  Research and know if your city is in a seismic zone.  One should also take note of earthquakes during the construction of a house and lay emphasis on a seismic-proof house.

4. How can one teach people about the effects of an earthquake?

There are many ways one can raise awareness about the effects of earthquakes.  There is Youtube and Instagram which could be used to disseminate all the knowledge about the earthquake and its impact on humans. You can also go to schools and colleges to conduct a seminar whereby the students could be told about the mitigation and steps to take when an earthquake strikes.  However before that, one must thoroughly research the topic. For this, visit www.vedntu.com and download the earthquake essay for free.

5. Who has written the Earthquake essay?

The earthquake essay provided by Vedantu is prepared by expert teachers who invest a good amount of time and effort to come up with an essay that is highly useful for the students in their personal lives as well as for their academic performance. The students can use this essay to maximize their abilities to cope with the questions on earthquakes and the earthquake itself. The essay is totally reliable and one mustn’t doubt its credibility at all.

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Related Environment essays

Earthquakes are some of the most destructive natural disasters. An earthquake consists of rapid vibration of the earth surface. Since its occurrence and enormous capacity is unpredictable by the ordinary human beings, it has been creating fear in human beings since the ancient times. A single shock would last for a few seconds, but when a series of smaller quakes occurs, it could last for about five minutes. It occurs quite frequently across the world but most of the times earthquakes are not very strong to be witnessed by people. However, huge earthquakes have devastating effects. This essay seeks to illustrate the causes and effects of earthquakes.

There are two types of earthquakes: tectonic and volcanic. Tectonic earthquakes occur when the earth is subjected to immense strain making it to eventually move. The earth crust comprises of several plates which float on the mantle. Considering that the plates can move, they can drift apart, towards each other, or slide against each other causing a subduction zone. According to Abrams & Morton (2007), convergent boundaries occur when too much pressure is generated between two plates over a long time. With time, one of the plates bends under the other due to extreme force. As much as the movement is too slow, pressure eventually builds up in the rocks. Eventually an earthquake happens when the pressure can no longer be held by the rocks. The fault ruptures causing the plates to move a long distance in a very short time. The collision triggers large forces in the plates resulting to the occurrence of earthquakes. The best example of a plate tectonic quake is that which occurred in the San Andreas Fault. In this case, the North American plate and the Pacific plate were moving towards the same direction but one was moving faster than the other.

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On the other hand, the volcanic earthquakes are caused by the explosive volcanic eruption. This could either occur at the sea bed or on the land. There are many faults across the world. The location of such faults is a major determinant of where an earthquake will occur because they are the main causes of earthquakes. The type of the fault also determines how often earthquakes occur (Abrams & Morton, 2007). When the earth crust is submitted to tensional forces, it becomes thinner and weak. It causes a hot spot in the mantle which leads the magma to produce pressure and penetrate into the lithosphere and eventually erupt. Earthquakes are triggered by the forceful movement of magma as it finds its way onto the earth surface.

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Earthquakes have various effects including damage to infrastructure, change in geological features and impact on the living things in the areas they occur. Rae (2008) asserts that the rumbling of the earth usually shakes tall buildings, dams and bridges making them fall down. These structures could fall on human beings and animals and kill them or affect the transport system. It becomes very difficult to transport the food, water and health aid to the affected people when bridges are destroyed.

They can also trigger geomorphologic changes. For instance, they could cause the earth crust to move either horizontally or vertically. This could cause a rising, tilting, or dropping of the earth surface and eventually causing landslides or floods. They could also damage gas and power lines and cause fires (Rae, 2008). Additionally, earthquakes that occur in the sea can cause tidal waves or tsunamis: Long and high walls of water travelling at a very high speed. Tsunamis can destroy an entire city or population living next to the coastline. They can also lead to various health effects such as the spread of waterborne diseases that end up killing human beings and animals.

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Essay on Earthquake in English for Children and Students

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Essay on Earthquake: The earthquake is one of the most terrible natural disasters. Its source can be traced to the early days of earth formation. It is responsible for a great loss of life and property. It is, therefore, a great problem for mankind. The word earthquake is derived from the Greek words, ‘earth’ meaning ground and ‘quake’ meaning shaking or trembling. An earthquake, therefore, is a shaking or trembling of the earth.

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Earthquake occurs due to disturbance in the tectonic plates that lie under the surface of Earth. Earthquakes may be brief and mild or big and destructive. Our planet has suffered several severe and mild earthquakes since centuries. Earthquakes are mostly brief but can cause mass destruction within seconds. People around the world have suffered immensely due to earthquakes in the past.

Long and Short Essay on Earthquake in English

Here are essay on Earthquake of varying lengths to help you with the topic in your exam. You can select any Earthquake essay as per you need:

Short Essay on Earthquake in 200 words

Earthquakes occur suddenly, usually without any warning signs, and can cause huge destruction. Though there is a separate branch of science referred to as seismology that study about earthquakes and tries to predicts their occurrence however, it doesn’t help in determining the exact time or date of this natural calamity.

Scientists around the world constantly try to predict the occurrence of earthquakes. While seismology department does warn against Earthquake in certain areas in future however it is unable to find out as to when exactly it would occur.

As it is said, little knowledge is dangerous hence lame predictions about earthquakes do more harm to the people than good. People begin to live in constant fear of earthquake. Panic among people living in such areas can be seen clearly as they can hardly do much about safeguarding themselves from the possible destruction caused due to this natural calamity.

However, earthquakes aren’t always severe and destructive. At times, these are small and mild. Sometimes, these are so mild that people do not even get to know that these have occurred. However, even at the slightest of tremors, it is suggested to evacuate the buildings and come out in an open area to ensure safety.

Essay on Earthquake in 300 words

Earthquakes and volcanoes are two natural calamities that occur due to the changes in the surface of Earth. Man has little or just no role in bringing about these natural disasters. Earthquakes and volcanoes are said to be interrelated. It has been observed that volcanic regions are more prone to earthquakes that often serve as a warning sign of an impending volcano.

Earthquake is basically the shaking of the Earth. Earthquakes either occur due to the movement of tectonic plates under the Earth’s surface or because of the movement of magma in volcanoes. The ones caused due to magma movements may be followed by volcanic eruptions. Earthquakes can be weak as well as violent. While the weak volcanoes are hardly felt, the violent ones can result in the devastation of big buildings and huge loss of life. Numerous earthquakes have occurred in different parts of the world causing severe destructions.

Volcano is the eruption of hot lava from the surface of Earth. It occurs when the Earth’s crust ruptures. Hot lava, poisonous gases and volcanic ash come out by way of volcanic eruptions and can cause vast destruction. Different types of volcanoes include super volcanoes, sub-glacial volcanoes, underwater volcanoes and mud volcanoes.

What is Volcanic Earthquake?

Volcanic earthquake also known as volcano tectonic earthquake is caused due to the movement of magma. This movement exerts pressure and causes changes in the rock around the magma and this eventually leads to volcanic earthquake. These earthquakes are known to cause major destruction that may include ground deformation, uprooting of buildings and ground cracks.

Both earthquakes and volcanoes may result in severe loss for the mankind. While scientists try their best to predict both of these, they haven’t been successful in determining the time and date for these natural disasters. People living in earthquake and volcano prone areas must stay vigilant and be prepared to face these and should act calmly and wisely if such a problem occurs.

Essay on Earthquake in 400 words

Earthquakes are caused due to the movement of magnum or tectonic plates under the Earth’s surface. They may vary in severity, time and other factors. Earthquakes have been classified into various categories. The effect they cause varies based on their type.

Types of Earthquake

There are different types of earthquakes that have been experienced on our planet. Here is a look at the main types of earthquakes:

• Tectonic Earthquake

A tectonic earthquake is an outcome of the breakage of Earth’s crust because of exertion of pressure on rocks and tectonic plates.

This is often a mild earthquake that takes place in the same area that has been hit by a severe earthquake few hours, days or weeks before.

A small earthquake that takes place before a severe earthquake is referred to as a foreshock.

• Explosion Earthquake

This type of earthquake occurs because of explosion of a chemical and nuclear device.

• Volcanic Earthquake

It is an earthquake that occurs due to the combination of tectonic forces and volcanic activities.

• Collapse Earthquake

This type of earthquake is caused due to the explosion of rocks. These are generally mild earthquakes that occur due to mining activities.

• Submarine Earthquake

It is an earthquake that takes place underwater particularly at the bottom of an ocean. It is commonly referred to as Tsunami.

Causes of Earthquake

An earthquake basically is an outcome of the movements of tectonic plates beneath the Earth’s surface. However, these are also caused due to certain other reasons. These are mostly natural reasons however sometimes these can even be man-made. Given below are the various causes of earthquakes:

• Volcanic Eruptions

Volcanic eruptions are a common cause of earthquake. Areas that are faced with frequent volcanic activities are more prone to earthquakes.

• Geological Fault

It occurs because of the displacement of plates from their original position. As the rocks move alongside these planes, it brings about tectonic earthquakes.

• Human Activities

Man is known to influence various natural activities and earthquakes are no exception. Nuclear bombing, building of dams and mining are few such human activities that can cause earthquake.

Effects of Earthquake

Mild earthquakes are harmless however the violent ones can cause mass destruction. Numerous lives are lost, several people are injured and many houses and other buildings are devastated during this natural calamity.

Earthquake is a dangerous natural calamity that has caused huge damage in various parts of the world. It cannot be avoided as the scientists are not able to predict its occurrence accurately.

Also Read: Speech on Earthquake in simple and easy words

Essay on Earthquake in 500 words

Earthquake is a natural calamity which is capable of causing vast destruction and there is no way to stop it from occurring. Our planet has been hit by a number of strong earthquakes of different magnitudes that have led to the loss of many innocent lives and heavy damage to the property. A need for disaster management for earthquake was felt owing to the huge and frequent damage they had been causing around the world.

Earthquake Management

The seismic department studies earthquakes. The department monitors the environment and the activities that occurs under the Earth’s surface in an attempt to predict earthquakes and their severity. However, it has largely failed in predicting the exact date and time of occurrence of the earthquake.

Since it is almost impossible to forecast and avoid the occurrence of earthquakes, we must prepare ourselves to lower the losses caused by these. Japan for instance is highly prone to earthquakes. However, their preparedness to handle this natural calamity ensures little or no damage to property and life in the country.

The recent earthquakes that jolted India have shown how under-prepared we are to handle this natural calamity. A need to build an environment which is earthquake resistant has been felt. Though, this cannot be full proof however efforts in this direction can certainly help bring down the magnitude of losses.

Extensive research is going on in this direction. Builders are being encouraged to build earthquake resistant structures. Special degree in Earthquake Engineering is being imparted to prepare our future generations to tackle this natural disaster smartly. Structural Earthquake Engineering, Geo-technical Earthquake Engineering, Remote Sensing and Seismology are the fields that are being explored and taught.

Do not Panic during an Earthquake

It is but natural to panic during any difficult situation however doing so only worsens the problem. We must thus not panic during earthquake. We should rather act wisely. Here are few things you can do to lower the possibility of disaster:

• Come out of your house/ office/ shop and gather in an open place.
• Do not use elevator. Take the stairs to go down.
• Make sure you are at a safe place as you come out and not somewhere where there is a possibility of falling objects or collapsing building.
• Get under a table or bed if you cannot move out.
• Stay calm and don’t indulge in negative talks.
• Help those caught inside or in need if you can.

Earthquake: Precautions to be taken

People living in earthquake prone areas must stay alert and prepared to handle this natural disaster at all times. Here are certain things that they must keep handy:

• Necessary medicines
• Canned packaged food
• Camp stoves that can be installed outdoors
• Enough drinking water
• Sanitation stock
• Cash/ Debit card/ Credit Card
• Important Certificates/ documents

It is a good idea to prepare a bag that can be carried easily in case of emergency.

The government must take measures to ensure the destruction caused by this natural calamity is lowered. In case of a severe earthquake, the government must take measures to help people who lose their houses and other important belongings. The government must be prepared to handle such an emergency situation efficiently so that people do not suffer further.

Essay on Earthquake in 600 words

Earthquakes occur when the tectonic plates shift and climb over one another. This leads to mountain building referred to as orogeny which is the cause of severe earthquakes. Thus, the tectonic plates that lie under the surface of Earth are responsible for this natural calamity. Just like many other parts of the world, India has also experienced numerous earthquakes in different areas. While some of these have caused serious destruction others have largely gone unnoticed.

Major Earthquakes in India

Our country has suffered from some major earthquakes in the past that have led to severe damage and immense panic among people. Some of the major earthquakes experienced in India are as follows:

The Hindu Kush Earthquake (26 October 2015) : This was a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that caused vast destruction in South Asia. Jammu and Kashmir in India was jolted by this quake and tremors were felt in many other parts of Northern India. With its epicentre in Afghanistan, the quake caused tremendous destruction in the country as well as in its neighbouring country Pakistan. Statistics reveal that 399 people lost their lives and as many as 2539 were injured during this earthquake.

The May 2015 Nepal Earthquake : Yet another severe earthquake in Nepal that led to havoc in India too as strong tremors were felt in various parts of our country including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi. With its epicentre in Dolakha and Sindhupal Chowk, Nepal it was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Considered to be an aftermath of the April 2015 earthquake, it took away 218 lives and injured more than 3200 people.

The April 2015 Nepal Earthquake : This is said to be one of the major earthquakes that has ever occurred in the recent times. It was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The epicentre of this earthquake was Gorkha District in Nepal however strong tremors were felt in various parts of India too. It led to the devastation of many buildings and took as many as 9,000 lives. 22,000 people were injured during the event.

Bhuj Earthquake (26 January 2001): This was one of the most devastating natural calamities that ever hit our country. The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 lasted for more than 2 minutes and wrecked havoc on the beautiful Indian state of Gujarat. Numerous buildings were devastated as a result of this earthquake. It killed around 20,000 people and injured as many as 167,000 people.

The Latur Earthquake (30 September 1993): The Latur earthquake hit the Indian state of Maharashtra. This 6.2 magnitude earthquake mainly affected the districts of Latur and Osmanabad. It demolished as many as 52 villages in Maharashtra and killed around 10,000 people. As many as 30,000 people were injured during the event.

Uttarkashi Earthquake (2 nd October 1991): The earthquake with a 6.8 magnitude hit Gharwal and Uttarkashi in Uttrakhand. Strong tremors were felt in these two regions and various other parts of Uttar Pradesh. It caused mass destruction. Numerous buildings were wrecked during the event. More than 700 people lost their lives and numerous others became homeless.

Earthquake Prone Areas in India

Almost every part of India has been hit by earthquake at some point or the other. While some areas in the country are highly prone to earthquakes others stand a low chance of being hit by them. Some of the earthquake prone areas in the country include Srinagar, Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Patna, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. All these regions have felt strong tremors of earthquake in the past and stand a high chance of experiencing the same in future as well.

India has seen major destruction due to earthquakes. Many buildings have been damaged and several people have lost their lives due to this natural calamity. We wish and pray to God that such strong tremors don’t occur in future.

Essay on Earthquake in 800 words

An earthquake is a tremor that is produced when two surfaces of earth, underneath the surface, slip against each other and release seismic waves. Thus, an earthquake implies a sudden release of energy from within the earth, which takes the form of tremors, generally called earthquake. World over, around fifty thousand earthquakes occur annually, but only about hundred of them are potentially dangerous. Little was understood about them until the 20 th century, when Seismology was introduced as a study of earthquakes. In the following essay we will go through the causes, effects and facts about earthquakes.

Causes of Earthquakes

Earthquakes are caused by the movement or breaking of rocks underneath the surface of earth. Under earth’s surface layers of rocks stay connected to each other. The rocks or plates push each other continuously, but doesn’t move as the forces balance each other.

However, if the rocks break or layers move against each other, seismic waves are produced which reach the surface in form of tremors known as earthquake. Hence earthquake is felt as long as the rocks are rubbing against each other and ceases as soon as the rocks get stuck again. In seismic language, the point immediately below where the rocks break is called the focus and the point immediately above is called the epicenter.

Measurement

The severity of an earthquake is measured in Richter scale. A strong earthquake has a high value on Richter scale while a low earthquake has a lower value.

An earthquake which measures 6 to 7 on Richter scale is potentially damaging to life and property, while the effects of earthquake measuring 4 to 5 on Richter scale could result only in mild tremors or a little structural damage.

There are many effects of earthquake and may include the following; though, they are not limited to the effects mentioned here below-

1) Tremors or Shaking

Shaking of ground is the first effect of earthquake and is also the most damaging one. The severity of shaking; however, depends on the magnitude of earthquake and the distance of the place from the epicenter. An earthquake measuring around 6 or above on Richter scale has an ability to destroy even the most strongest of buildings, depending on their proximity to the epicenter.

2) Ground Rupture

Sometimes, an earthquake measuring high on Richter scale could cause visible rupture in the ground along the fault line. Sometimes, when the earthquake is potentially high on Richter scale, a ground rupture measuring several meters deep and several kilometers long, may result. Such ground ruptures are considerably harmful to significant structures like dams, nuclear power stations and bridges.

Earthquakes can cause forest fires, as tremors force the trees to rub each other, thereby generating heat and sparks. There have been forest fires recorded after earthquakes. Moreover, an earthquake can cause fire in urban areas also, by rupturing electrical lines and damaging electrical protection systems.

4) Landslides

Landslides are the most common aftereffects of earthquake in hilly areas. Shaking of earth displaces the soil on sloppy hills, resulting in a landslide. The landslides sometimes could be potentially more dangerous than the earthquake itself, as they contain debris like trees and rocks, and have a high potential to damage life and property.

Tsunami is the most severe and frightening aftereffect of earthquake. Tsunami is caused when the epicenter of an earthquake lies under the ocean surface. An earthquake in the sea bed results in waves those are not more than a ripple over the epicenter, but as they travel towards the shore, they get bigger, faster and stronger. A wave only measuring 1 meter above the epicenter could measure 100 meters at the shores, resulting in huge loss of life and tremendous damage to the property.

What to do in an Earthquake?

Though the science of studying earthquake has developed significantly, and today it’s possible to forecast an earthquake, even then it might not be possible in every place and situation. Below given are some of the safety precautions you could take when caught in a situation, to save yourself and family from harm.

Situation 1 – Outdoors

If you are outdoors and sense an earthquake, move away from buildings, poles, trees as fast as you can. The greatest danger is immediately outside of a building and near boundaries. When caught outside in an earthquake it’s wise to stand still on a clear ground, away from any structure that could fall upon you.

Situation 2 – Indoors

If you are caught in an earthquake inside a building, the best option for you would be to find some sturdy and strong table or bed and lie down below it, ducking your head under your arms. Stay put in this position until the tremor ceases or help arrives.

Situation 3 – Driving a Vehicle

If you are driving and sense an earthquake, then move as fast as possible from buildings and other high structures and stay inside the vehicle. Even after earthquake, proceed cautiously and avoid bridges if possible, as the tremors might have damaged them.

Earthquakes are a natural phenomenon and despite our knowledge on them, we cannot stop them from occurring; nevertheless, we can always act wisely when caught in the situation, saving our life as well as life of others.

Essay on Earthquake FAQs

What is called an earthquake.

An earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by sudden movements in Earth's crust.

What makes an earthquake?

Earthquakes happen when the Earth's plates suddenly move or slide past each other, releasing energy that causes the ground to shake.

What is the topic of an earthquake?

The topic of an earthquake revolves around the shaking and vibrations in the Earth's surface caused by geological movements.

What is the meaning of earthquake in English?

Earthquake in English refers to the shaking or trembling of the ground due to geological forces.

What is the introduction of an earthquake?

An earthquake introduction would cover the basics: how it occurs due to tectonic plate movements, causing shaking or trembling of the ground.

How do you write an earthquake essay?

To write an earthquake essay, start with an introduction explaining what an earthquake is, discuss its causes, effects, and safety measures, and conclude with preventive measures.

What is an earthquake in 150 words?

An earthquake is a sudden shaking of the Earth's surface caused by movements in the Earth's crust. These movements release energy, creating seismic waves that make the ground shake, potentially causing damage to structures and landscapes. Safety measures and preparedness are crucial to mitigate the impact of earthquakes.

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Earthquakes shake the ground surface, can cause buildings to collapse, disrupt transport and services, and can cause fires. They can trigger landslides and tsunami.

Earthquakes occur mainly as a result of plate tectonics, which involves blocks of the Earth moving about the Earth's surface. The blocks of rock move past each other along a fault. Smaller earthquakes, called foreshocks, may precede the main earthquake, and aftershocks may occur after the main earthquake. Earthquakes are mainly confined to specific areas of the Earth known as seismic zones, which coincide mainly with ocean trenches, mid-ocean ridges, and mountain ranges.

The point of origin of an earthquake is called the focus. The epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus. Most earthquake foci are within a few tens of kilometres of the Earth's surface. Earthquakes less than 70 km deep are classified as shallow-focus. Intermediate-focus earthquakes are 70-300 km deep, and deep-focus earthquakes more than 300 km deep. Shallow-focus earthquakes occur in all of the Earth's seismic zones, but intermediate- and deep-focus earthquakes are almost exclusively associated with seismic zones near ocean trenches.

The destructiveness of an earthquake depends on the size, the depth (shallow ones are more destructive) and the location. Earthquake size can be stated in terms of the damage caused (the intensity) or the amount of ground motion and the energy released by the earthquake (related to the Richter magnitude).

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Kilauea Volcano Erupts on Hawaii’s Big Island

The volcano erupted three times in 2023. There did not appear to be any immediate danger to residents on Monday.

By Victor Mather

Kilauea, the most active volcano in Hawaii, began erupting early on Monday morning. Kilauea, in the southeast part of the Big Island, erupted three times last year.

Because the eruption was happening near the summit, there did not appear to be any immediate danger to residents.

The eruption began at 12:30 a.m. local time. Magma was rising from beneath the surface and “fountaining” up through cracks, the United States Geological Survey said.

Rather than the hundreds of feet you might expect in a classic, major volcanic eruption , Michael Poland, a geophysicist with the U.S.G.S., said the lava at Kilauea was rising only “tens of feet” on Monday.

In 2023, Kilauea erupted in January , June and September . A major eruption in 2018 destroyed 700 homes.

“From 1983 to 2018, all of the activity came from two vents,” Mr. Poland said. “Since 2018, it has gone away from a period of steady eruptions. Now it has discrete, usually shortish eruptions happening in several different places. Now we’re getting eruptions happening in places we haven’t seen in 50 years.”

Recent eruptions have typically lasted six to eight hours.

“Unlike 2018, when lava was coming out in people’s backyards, these are in the national park,” Mr. Poland said, referring to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The volcano alert level was raised Monday to a warning from a watch, the normal move when an eruption starts.

Scientists had been watching for an eruption after about 250 earthquakes were recorded beneath Kilauea’s summit over an eight-hour period before the eruption.

Earthquakes are sometimes a precursor to eruption. The strongest quake was a magnitude-4.1 temblor at 9:12 p.m., about three hours before the eruption.

The U.S.G.S. said that during Kilauea’s eruptions, volcanic gas, including sulfur dioxide, is released. That gas reacts in the atmosphere to create volcanic smog, or vog.

“Vog creates the potential for airborne health hazards to residents and visitors, damages agricultural crops and other plants, and affects livestock,” the agency said.

“It’s more of an irritant,” Mr. Poland said. “If people have sensitive breathing or respiratory issues, they may find it more difficult to breathe.”

Mr. Poland said after the initial eruptions, the activity was starting to wane as of 11 a.m. Eastern time. “We wouldn’t expect this one to be a terribly long-term eruption,” he said.

Victor Mather , who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news. More about Victor Mather