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Syllabus
Many natural phenomena such as lightning, cyclones, and thunderstorms can be predicted well in advance. However, there is one natural phenomenon that cannot be predicted. This natural phenomenon is the?earthquake. Earthquakes can produce large scale destruction. You must have heard about the earthquake, which lead to large scale destruction in the Bhuj district of Gujarat.
An earthquake is a vibration or tremor produced in the Earth?s crust.?It is caused by the disturbances originating deep inside the Earth?s crust. Generally, the period for which the effect of an earthquake is felt is very small.
Earthquakes vary extremely in magnitude. Sometimes, earthquakes are so mild that we don?t even feel them. Earthquakes of large magnitudes are not very frequent, but they can produce large scale damage to houses, buildings, and roads.
The earthquake in Bhuj took lives of as many as 15000 people. Recently in China, approximately 8600 people lost their lives due to an earthquake.
Earthquakes can also produce floods, landslides, and tsunamis. In 2004, a tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean. It is the second largest earthquake ever recorded and countries like India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Thailand were severely hit by its impact.
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W?hat causes an earthquake?
We know that tremors are produced by the disturbances taking place deep down in the uppermost layer of the Earth known as the?crust.
T?his exterior portion of the Earth is not continuous, and is broken into many pieces known as?plates. These plates move constantly. They can slide past one another, or move into each other because of the collisions taking place between them.
When this happens, disturbances are produced in the earth?s crust, which lead to an earthquake on the surface of the Earth. However, this is not the only reason which can give rise to an earthquake.
Earthquakes can also be caused by the following:
Volcanic eruption
Meteors falling on the Earth?s surface
Underground explosions. For example, underground nuclear tests.
Collapsing structures such as mines etc.
We know that earthquakes are caused by the movement of the plates. Hence, boundaries of these plates are weak zones as earthquakes are more likely to originate from here. These weak zones are also known as?seismic zones or fault zones. In India, some places that come under seismic zones are Guwahati, Srinagar, New Delhi, Patna, Lucknow, Indore, Chennai, and Coimbatore.
The disasterous effects which an earthquake brings along with are:Loss of life and propertyDirection of river flows and streams changesChange in level of water-tableEarthquake below?oceanic bed can cause tsunami which leads?to vast destruction of coastal regionsImbalance in ecosystem due to loss of biodiversity
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