Question

pick an earthquake either recent or in the past and write a brief news article that would go in a paper explaining where, when, can you explain tectonic setting that caused the earthquake, what kinds of damage was done, was it a deep or shallow "focus" earthquake any other information that you can find that would be exciting to put in. (100 words)

Answer 1

Most earthquakes occur along the edge of the oceanic and continental plates. The earth's crust (the outer layer of the planet) is made up of several pieces which called as plates. The plates under the oceans are "oceanic plates" and the rest are "continental plates". The plates are moved around by the motion of a deeper part of the earth that lies underneath the crust.

Earthquakes usually occur where two plates are running into each other or sliding past each other. The depth of earthquake which gives us an important information about the Earth's structure and the tectonic setting where the earthquakes are occurring. Accurately determining the depth of an earthquake is typically more challenging than determining its location, unless there happens to be a seismic station close and above the epicenter.

Bsically, earthquake can cause immense damage to buildings and infrastructure, trigger tsunamis and reshape the Earth's surface with their force. The most active earthquake zone on the planet is the Pacific rim which is also known as the "Ring of Fire". It includes New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, the Alaskan peninsula and the west coasts of North and South America.

Nepal and India are also earthquake hotspots because of the collision of Indian plate and Eurasian plate, a process which formed the Himalayas. The largest earthquakes happen where one plate collides and slips under another or collides with and slips past another.

Earthquakes are measured using a network of seismometers, instruments that record the motion of the Earth as it vibrates or shakes. The hypocentre of an earthquake is the point in the Earth at which a rupture actually start that could be kilometres below the surface, while the epicentre is the point on the surface vertically above the hypocentre.

The largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude (9.4 to 9.6) quake near Valdivia, Chile in 1960. From 1990 to 2015, an earthquake above magnitude 8 which occurred once a year on average. Earthquakes below the magnitude 8 which can still be highly destructive depending on the region in which they occur. Earthquakes above the magnitude 4 which can cause destructive landslides and avalanches.