Earthquakes
We know what earthquakes are and how they are caused. More details after long research has been found about the earthquakes.
Somewhere under the earth’s crust a strata fractures and crumbles down. As it breaks it strikes against the rocks around it and causes quakes to travel out in all directions. The impact of the explosion radiates waves of shock in all directions. The shock waves strike the earth’s crust and make the earth tremble or quake. The quake lasts only for a few seconds. But within these fleeting moments terrible havoc is caused to life and property.
The quakes differ in intensity; mild shocks pass off lightly. Severe shocks cause great damage and terrible suffering. In 1923, two Japanese cities, Tokyo and Yokohama were struck and about 250,000 people were killed and several crores of rupees worth of properties were destroyed.
If the shock is severe, great changes in the earth’s crust occur. The land on either side moves up or slips down. Portions of sea floor rises up to form dry land-Sea beds rise up making the sea shallow. Tracts of land become suddenly elevated or depressed or even submerged. Rocks and boulders on mountain sides are loosened setting up a land slide. If the quake occurs in the mid sea, great waves are set up. The waves spread destruction along the neighbouring shores.
The spot where the quake occurs and from where shock waves radiate is known as the Epicenter. The shock waves are transmitted over thousands of kilometres all around. Now it is possible to get warnings of an impending shock even some days in advance through, instruments called the Seismograph and seisnnoscope.
The Japanese who often suffer from earthquakes build their houses with light materials like bamboo. They have now evolved shock proof houses also.
The earthquake belt run around the earth along the Pacific Ocean, the Himalayas and its branches, Quetta, Baluchistan, Cutch, Bihar, Assam, Peru, Burma, the East Indies, Japan, New Zealand, Peru and Chile.
