Why Was the Destruction So Severe? | Inside Disaster: Haiti
Six weeks after the Haiti shock, Chile was struck by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake. It was 500 times more powerful than the Haiti quake, yet killed less than 1% of the Haitian total. In this section, we explore answers to the question: why was the Haiti earthquake so destructive? This Flash piece is 525 x 372. To embed it in your site, copy and paste the following code. <script type="text/javascript"> var file="destruction_slideshow.swf"; var width = 525; var height = 372; </script><script type="text/javascript" src=" Too wide? Click on images below to launch related videos. Building Codes “The poverty in Haiti lends itself to people building where they want, how they can … not everybody’s going to be able to build to the exacting standards that a building code requires.” Unlike in other countries located on or near fault lines, very few of Haiti’s buildings were constructed for earthquake resistance. Construction Materials Learn More
What is a flood?
Introduction to Flooding Many of us have this idea that floods (or flooding) is simply, too much water around your house. People think that can be fun. Flooding is extremely dangerous and has the potential to wipe away an entire city, coastline or area, and cause extensive damage to life and property. What is a flood? It is a natural event or occurrence where a piece of land (or area) that is usually dry land, suddenly gets submerged under water. When floods happen in an area that people live, the water carries along objects like houses, bridges, cars, furniture and even people. Floods occur at irregular intervals and vary in size, duration and the affected area. It is important to note that water naturally flows from high areas to low lying areas. In this lesson, we shall see more about what causes flooding, the types of flooding, some effects of floods and what we can do before, during and after floods occur.
Earthquake Facts
The origin of the name of the San Andreas Fault is often cited as the San Andreas Lake. However, based on some 1895 and 1908 reports by geologist A.C. Lawson, who named the fault, the name was actually taken from the San Andreas Valley. He likely did not realize at the time that the fault ran almost the entire length of California! The fastest wave, and therefore the first to arrive at a given location, is called the P wave. The “Ring of Fire” also called the Circum-Pacific belt, is the zone of earthquakes surrounding the Pacific Ocean — about 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur there. The greatest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge, extending 64,374 km (40,000 mi) from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, around Africa, Asia, and Australia, and under the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of North America. Subduction is the process of the oceanic lithosphere colliding with and descending beneath the continental lithosphere.
What is a volcano?
Introduction to volcanoes The earth's mountains, plains, plateaus, soils, rocks, etc. as we see it today is believed to have gone through many phases, with about 80% of it being carved out by the action of volcanoes. A volcano is simply a rapture (opening or vent) on the earth's surface (crust) through which molten magma (extremely hot mixture of gases, lava, ash and other burning substances) escape on to the earth's surface. How do Volcanoes look like? In May 1980, the Mountain St. Volcanoes occur at weak zones or points in the earth’s crust (including constructive and destructive boundaries). For history lovers… In A.D. 79 (really long ago) two Roman cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum, were completely buried in ash and dust in a matter of hours after a volcanic eruption. The word, ‘volcano’ was made out of the name of a Roman god of a small island in the Mediterranean sea of Sicily called ‘Volcan’. Now we shall see in a bit more detail how volcanoes come about.
Weather Wiz Kids weather information for kids
Earthquakes(Earthquakes are not associated with weather, but instead are natural disasters.) What is an earthquake?Earthquakes are the shaking, rolling or sudden shock of the earth’s surface. They are the Earth's natural means of releasing stress. More than a million earthquakes rattle the world each year. The West Coast is most at risk of having an earthquake, but earthquakes can happen in the Midwest and along the East Coast. Click Here to learn more about earthquakes from USGS. What causes an earthquake? Click Here to see an animation of an earthquake. What are plate tectonics? What is a seismograph? Click Here to calculate the strength of earthquakes! Click Here to see an animation of an earthquake and the resulting tsunami. Know the Lingo EPICENTER - The point on the earth's surface directly above the source of the earthquake.SEISMIC WAVES - The energy created by the quake travels in waves from the epicenter, where they are the strongest. Richter Scale Earthquake Safety Tips
Natural Disasters
1. Most natural disasters are caused by weather. Weather disasters can be caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, thunderstorms, wind storms, wildfires, avalanches, and blizzards. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Faultline: Theory of Plate Tectonics
The answer is that some places on the earth's surface are, literally, on the edge. During its early years, the earth's outer layer was much hotter than it is today. Over time, the surface of the earth cooled and hardened. These collisions are more than just momentary shake-ups. The theory that describes this movement is called plate tectonics. Twenty-five years after Wegener's death, scientists discovered a deep trench beneath the Atlantic Ocean where molten rock from inside the earth welled up and then cooled in the ocean waters, creating new rock. Most seismic action arises not from diverging plates, but from plates of the earth striking each other.
Earth Facts and Information
Information on wildfires for young people
Out of the many natural disasters we have, wild fires would be one that is very common, very difficult to fight, and maybe the most dangerous. What is a fire? Simple, it is the visible part of a combustion. This is simply a gas found in air. Fuel: Fuel is any kind of combustible material. Heat: Heat is thermal energy.
DragonflyTV . Episodes . Earth and Space . Earthquakes
Earthquakes by Claire and Nisha We're Claire and Nisha, and we live in a place where earthquakes are NOT science fiction! We live in San Francisco, where you can really feel the earth move under your feet. The last big quake here was in 1989, before we were born. We wondered if we could learn about how the earth moves in an earthquake by looking around the city. What did we do? What did we find out? What can you do?
Weather Wiz Kids weather information for kids
