Earthquake case studies

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The Haiti Earthquake 2010

General info

Occurred on January 12th 2010

The earthquake measured 7 richter

Haiti is a Small island

Capital: Port-au-Prince

Plate tectonics:North America plate and Caribbean plate, conservative boundary

HDI: 145th of 169

More than 70% of people in Haiti were living on less than per day

90% homes are built with cheap materials such as cement, earth, clisse, bricks or stone

Primary Impacts

316,000 killed

1 million homeless

3 million people affected

250,000 homes destroyed

Transport links damaged

60% of government buildings damaged and the presidential palace collapsed

19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris

80% of schools in Port-au-Prince destroyed or damaged

96 UN peacekeepers died in the earthquake

Main road linking Port-au-Prince with Jacmel remained blocked ten days after the earthquake

Control tower at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport suffered major damage

Secondary Impacts

1/5 of Haitians lost jobs

Hospitals and morgues became full vey quickly

Cholera outbreak: sickened one out of every 15 people in the country

People were living in the streets or shanty towns

Short Term Responses

$100 million in aid from the U.S.

$ 330 million in aid from the EU

810,000 people placed in camps

115,000 tents provided

1 million tarpaulin provided

Long Term Responses

Temporary schools in place

New teachers were trained

Water and sanitation was provided for 1.7 million people

Cash/food for work scheme to help the unemployed

Página 2

Christchurch earthquake 2011

General info

12:51, 22nd February

6.3 magnitude earthquake

Epicentre 6 miles South East of Christchurch

Shallow at 3.1 miles

Earthquake lasted for 10 seconds

Conservative plate margin, Australian plate and Pacific plate

Located on the pacific ring of fire making it vulnerable to tectonic hazards

Population of 4.4 million

Aftershock of the 2010 earthquake, however its impacts were more severe

GDP per capita, $27,700

Social impacts

181 people were killed

115 killed in the CTV building collapse

The Pyne Gould Guinness building collapse injured 18 people

2,000 people were injured

80% of the city was without electricity

People were affected mentally

Some blamed country's gay and lesbian community for causing the quake

Environmental impacts

Hundreds of kilometres of water and sewage pipes were damaged

Liquefaction caused lots of damage to roads and buildings

Part of the country longest glacier was broken off creating a large iceberg, the size of 20 football fields

3.5m tsunami waves in Tasman Lake from glacier carving

Economic impacts

50% central city buildings were severely damaged including the city cathedral which lost its spire

Businesses were put out of action for long periods causing losses of incomes

Christchurch could no longer host the Ruby World Cup matches so lost the benefits

Number of guests to hotels in Christchurch fell by 75% after the earthquake hit

Political impacts

Schools had to share classrooms

Closed 419 early childhood education centres, 215 primary schools in Slewyn, Waimakariri and Christchurch

Damage to roads made it difficult for people and emergency services to move around

Responses

Chemical toilets were provided for 30,000 residents

Areas were zoned (green, orange, white, red) to classify damage of repairs

International aid was given in the form of $6-7 million and aid workers

Overall $898 million was paid in building claims

Temporary housing and ensured all damaged housing was kept water tight

Water and sewage was restored for all residents by august

Roads and houses cleared of silt by August and 80% of roads and 50% of footpaths were repaired

Inquiry into the collapse of buildings that were deemed safe after the 2010 earthquake

Since February 2015 there have been 1240 demolitions

Management

Development of earthquake prediction systems, Geo net detects and monitors earthquakes can provide emergency services with information of an earthquake

Geo net is funded by the earthquake commission set up by the government to provide insurance and education on quake safeing

Building codes, implemented as early as 1935 and updated to the present time

Building that are older have to be reinforced, however only in the North as it was not seen as necessary in the south

National crisis management centre

Página 3

Californian earthquake 1989

General info

Northern California

October 17th at 5:04 pm

Part of the San Andreas fault system

Magnitude of 6.9

Aftershocks continued 36 hours later

Social impact

63 deaths

3,757 injuries

Sports coverage of the 1989 world series meant the earthquake was broadcast live on TV

1.4 million lost power

10,000 people were made homeless

Environmental impact

A four-year drought limited the potential of landslides

Steep terrain near the epicentre resulted in 4,000 landslides

Economic impact

12,000 homes and 2,600 businesses were damaged

Caused an estimated $6 billion in property damage

Many soft story buildings collapsed in the Marina District

59 water mains burst

Over 100 gas mains were ruptured

Political impact

Highway 17 was blocked for several weeks sue to a large landslide

Response

All but 12,000 customers had their power restored within 2 days

President George H.W. Bush signed a $1.1 billion earthquake relief package for California

Relief efforts for the bay area were a national response

Management

Building regulations passed 24 years late on soft story buildings

Cyprus freeway was rebuilt using new aseismic design and reopened 10 years later

In 1972 the state begun an earthquake strengthening programme but following budget cuts 5000 engineers were fired and the scheme was halted

Página 4

Indonesia Earthquake (Boxing Day tsunami) 2004

General info

26 December 2004

Magnitude of 9.3, 100myears worth of pressure

Earthquake lasted 3-4 minutes

Indio-Australian Plate subducting below the Eurasian Plate

Tsunami travelled at speeds up to 800km per hour

Wave increased to 15 metres in some areas.

Social impact

Overall 1.69 billion people displaced overall

Killed people in 14 different countries

Death toll over 280,000 but not all bodies recovered

Sumatra 130,000 were killed, over 30,000 missing swept out to sea

500,000 made homeless (Sumatra)

Environmental impact

Volume and nature of debris was beyond the coping capacities of the cities and towns that were affected

Salination of water bodies e.g groundwater aquifers has occurred in many of the affected countries (dead fish)

Affected the soil fertility of agricultural lands, due to salination and debris contamination, which will affect yields in the medium and long term

8 million litres of oil escaped from oil plants in Indonesia

Economic impact

80,000 houses destroyed and other infrastructure 1km away from shore (sumatra)

Lost of foreign currency through tourism especially in Thailand

Foreign visitors to Phuket dropped 80% in 2005.

An estimated 60% of Sri Lanka’s fishing fleet destroyed.

Political impact

Problems with aid distribution, not given to the right places and not the same amount given as pledged

The Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did so well in organising aid that he got re-elected in a landslide

Response

Over $7billion provided by governments and NGO's

5 million relocated into refugee camps

The USGS got a warning to Africa which saved lives

Red cross built 466 new homes across five islands in the maldives, provided boats and nets to fishing communities in Batticaloa and cash hand outs

The World Food Programme led these efforts and delivered 110,000 tonnes of food to the tsunami zone in the first five months of the response, enough to feed more than 2 million people.

Mangement

Warning

The tsunami early warning system now installed for the indian ocean with the help of the UN and has three operational Regional Tsunami Watch Centres (India, Indonesia and Australia)

they system cost $20 million

The pacific ocean has had a warning system for 50 year prior, with a magnitude six earthquake and over triggering warnings to scientists to investigate a tsunami threat

Education

Asian Broadcasting Union collaborated with the United Nations to run workshops on disaster risk for journalists.

Countries conducted training courses for teachers and communities on natural hazards, covering both tsunamis and tropical cyclones, and on disaster risk reduction, Indonesia has made it part of the school curriculum

Mitigation and building

Re-planting of mangroves as a buffer zone between the sea and human dwellings has commenced in several coastal areas

“Mangroves in front of settlements resulted in 8 per cent fewer casualties during the tsunami”

Close to 2 million trees have been planted around 70 villages in Aceh (province of Indonesia)

Many buildings remain close to shoreline due to tourist factors, although built taller to allow for vertical evacuation

Página 5

Japanese Tsuanmi 2011

General info

Off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku

Magnitude of 9.1

14:46 pm local time

Earthquake lasted 6 minutes

The oceanic Pacific Plate subducting under the Eurasian Plate.

Japan has a huge GDP; it was $34,000 per capita in 2011, which allows it huge leeway ion terms of planning for Earthquakes and tsunami

Social impacts

15,894 deaths

6,152 injured

2,562 people missing

Over 340,000 displaced people

4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water

Environmental impacts

Radiation from Fukushima

Economic Impacts

127,290 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 272,788 buildings "half collapsed", and another 747,989 buildings partially damaged

losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion

The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history

The yen fell sharply but recouped most of its decline several hours later

Tokyo stocks fell

10% of the fishing ports were damaged.

Political impacts

At Fukushima the subsequent tsunami disabled emergency generators required to cool the reactors

Evidence of a partial nuclear meltdown in units 1, 2 and 3

Radiation releases caused large evacuations, concern over food and water supplies

Response

A tsunami warning issued 3 minutes after the quake extended to at least 50 nations and territories, as far away as South America.

News on live television, and messages went out on Japan’s mobile network

100,000 Japanese soldiers sent out to search and rescue

Fifty-nine search and rescue experts, four medics and two sniffer dogs flew out on a private charter plane with 11 tonnes of equipment on board.

Mangement

Japan has a hazards agency, the Japanese Meteorological Agency

The Japanese government is among the best prepared in the world for disasters and has so far only made specific requests for help, such as calling for search and rescue teams.

Buildings are earthquake proof and people in Japan are trained YEARLY on the 1st of September in how to survive earthquakes

40% of Japan’s coastline has sea walls of up to 10m high to withstand incoming tsunami waves

Página 6

Nepal Earthquake 2015

General info

Magnitude of 7.8

subducting India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate

11th most at risk in terms of vulnerability to an earthquake

Social impacts

8,632 dead

19,009 injured

2.8 million people were

displacedAvalanche on Mount Everest, killing 17 people, the deadliest day recorded.

More than 75,000 households saw their cooking

technology damaged or destroyed, leading to an inability

to prepare nutritious meals for their families.

40% of electricity lines and all sub stations not functional for a month

Environmental impacts

Economic Impacts

Loss equated to 25% of Nepal's GDP

700,000 homes damed

50% of bridges and narrow roads unusable due to damage and debris

Political impacts

Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Changu Narayan Temple and the Dharahara Tower.

Response

90 percent of soldiers from the Nepalese army mobilised to worst hit areas

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided a USD$3 million grant to Nepal for immediate relief efforts; and up to USD$200 million for the first phase of rehabilitation.

UK gave £73 million, of which £23 million was donated by the government and £50 million was donated by the public.

UK also provided 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid and 8 tonnes of equipment

Inflatable hospitals set up by doctors without borders

Mangement