Earthquakes and their Dangers Social Sciences Assignment (Essay Sample)

EARTHQUAKES AND POTENTIAL DANGERS
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Earthquakes and Potential Dangers
Introduction
Earthquakes relate to unexpected occurrences that cause violent or mild shaking of the earth’s ground. They could result in mere tremors or destructive natures depending on the measure of the shaking. Geographical experts refer to the shaking as having interfered with the tectonic plated hence the shifting of these plates make the grounds shake. These movements occur along lines that are defined as “fault lines”. However, earthquakes do not entirely happen because of these tectonic plate movements; some are caused by volcanic eruptions.[Blaikie, Piers, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis, and Ben Wisner. At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters. Routledge, 2014.]
Causes and Dangers
To begin with, the earthquakes, just like rains have recording items known as seismographs. These items measure the tremors under a measure known as the seismogram. The measurement instrument is set on the ground and has mechanics that record the earthquake. At the end of the quake, the magnitude of the quake is recorded, and scientists give explanations as o the causes and possible damage if there could be. Interestingly, scientists have no means or way of predicting earthquakes because these incidents happen without warning. Therefore, their only estimation would be that there is likely to be an earthquake in future without actually pinpointing when it could happen.[Ibid 1]
As mentioned before, earthquakes bring forth danger depending on the magnitude. The mild ones directly cause the ground to shake, and people feel them in their bodies. The more intense ones cause a bending in building materials, and some weakly fixed houses get damaged in the process. Because the ground movement occurs, waves are formed, and that is how the earthquake can destroy the buildings since they run along the foundation of the house and break the building material.
Additionally, the Earthquakes can also cause the destruction of roads and bridges. When these tectonic plates move, they create waves that break the ground. This breaking of the ground may, in turn, bend roads and bridges and because it does not go back to its original shape, the road or bridge may need to be repaired. In extreme circumstances, the roads could even get submerged and the bridges completely flattened. There is also landslide especially in areas that have weak soil, and this is what causes the submersion of houses and eventual deaths of people. Another danger causes the liquefaction of the ground. What happens in this instance is that the earthquake shakes the ground and the water underground comes up sometimes on top of the uppermost soil. The result is that the ground becomes completely liquefied and weak. Anything that is above the ground be it buildings, people or animals can be submerged.[Montz, Burrell E., Graham A. Tobin, and Ronald R. Hagelman III. Natural hazards: explanation and integration. Guilford Publications, 2017.]
Earthquakes also bring about flooding. For instance, the barriers that protect water areas are often soil. When the earthquakes occur, this soil barrier...