Earthquake Case Study: 1989 San Francisco Earthquake

On 17th October 1989, at 5.04 pm, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, and lasting only 15 seconds, hit San Francisco. The epicentre of the earthquake was under a mountain known as Loma Prieta, 10 miles NE of the city of Santa Cruz. The effects of the 1989 earthquake included: - 67 Deaths - 6,000 Homes damaged / destroyed and 2000 people made homeless - Upper deck of the Nemitz highway collapsing onto the lower deck crushing people in their cars - A section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsing - Fire resulting from gas explosions - Massive economic costs ($4.4 billion) - Damage to infrastructure - electricity / gas and water mains cut 1. The Marina / Bay District Here the buildings were wooden and not securely attached to their foundations. The area was also located on an old landfill site, which was created following the devastation caused by the 1906 earthquake. As a result of the weak sub-surface sediments, when the ground shook in the 1989 earthquake, the process of liquefaction occurred. This is where as the ground lost its shear stength and acted more like a liquid as water moved up through the sediments resulting in reduced strength and causing buildings to collapse due to lack of support.

2. Collapse of the Double-Decker Nimitz Highway and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge A number of roadways were damaged during the earthquake, including the collapse of the upper tier of the double-deck er Nimitz Highway (Interstate 80) onto the lower deck, killing and trapping motorists in their cars. The collapse was caused partly by soil failure and also the unsuitable design of the supporting piers. A section of the Bay Bridge also collapsed killing motorists. 3. Older Buildings of Downtown San Francisco Many of the older (50-100 year old) buildings which were not designed to withstand earthquakes were most severely damaged. Low-rise buildings were also affected than taller buildings which swayed with the quake / ground motions. Earthquake in Japan: Tohoku 2011 Magnitude 9.0 occurred at 2.40pm on Friday 11 March 2011 One of the most powerful earthquakes since 1990 Triggered destructive tsunami waves of up to 40.5 metres in Tohoku which caused level 7 meltdowns at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and evacuations ordered for radiation-prone zones 16,000 deaths and 125,000 buildings damaged/destroyed over 8 prefectures Dam collapse, roads and railways damaged and fires 4.4 million households without electricity and 1.5 million without water Insured losses: US$14.5 to $34.6 billion, overall cost could exceed US$300 billion, making it the most expensive natural disaster on record. The earthquake moved Honshu 2.4 m east and shifted the Earth on its axis. Japan's ground self-defence forces have been deployed, and the government has asked the US military based in the country for help Where the Pacific Plate is subducting under the plate beneath northern Honshu 300,000 evacuees, food and housing shortage Japan's Nikkei stock market index saw its futures slide 5% in after-market trading There was a notable lack of disorder (e.g. looting) immediately following the earthquake, and this was attributed not only to Japanese forbearance, an attitude sometimes referred to as gaman, but also to laws that encourage honesty, a strong police presence, and three main clans of Yakuza gangs patrolling their territories. The Japanese Red Cross had received over $1 billion in donations in response to the disaster, and dispatched more than 200 emergency relief teams to the disaster zone. However it received criticism from some quarters for not yet having dispensed any cash aid to survivors. The American Red Cross said that it had received $120 million in donations from the US public. The Singapore Red Cross and Japan Association said that, as of 31 March 2011, residents of Singapore had donated S$ 3.15 million for disaster relief.

First successful prediction of a major earthquake was made in 1975. The earthquake took place in China ( Haichung) on Feb 4 1975. The intensity of the earthquake was 7.3 on Richter scale and about ninety percent of the structure was destroyed in a city of 90,000 people. In this case thousands of people were saved by the massive evacuation from unsafe housing just before the earthquake. The short-term prediction was possible primarily on a series of foreshock that began four days prior to the main shock. Unfortunately these types of short-range prediction on the basis of foreshock are not always reliable. Earthquake prediction by any geoscientist is far from success; however a detailed and systematic investigation may lift haze in its prediction.