Many of you will have heard on the news that there has been another earthquake in Indonesia today. The earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale, struck Padang - on the island of Sumatra (shown on the map below) - at 1049 local time, and it is estimated that up to 100 people were killed.
The BBC site has coverage of the story here and some eyewitness accounts as well as information about how earthquakes occur, and a history of major earthquakes around the world.
10 comments:
Since we know where the boundries of the Earth's plates are, are we totally unable to predict their movements? If we could, we could reduce loss of life quite significantly; as the areas about to be hit could be evacuated almost immediatly. Terrible things like this, whilst they can't be prevented, should at least be predicted beforehand.
We can predict to an extent, and prepare accordingly (something we'll be looking at in the next couple of weeks), and plate boundaries are monitored by seismologists all the time. But one of the big issues in Indonesia is the lack of money and technology available.
Even where prediction and warning systems are in place, people are often reluctant to heed the warnings.
The other question is, why do people continue to live in these areas when they know there is a danger?
If Indonesia hasn't enough money and technology to predict when earthquakes happen then other countries should be helping predict when these attacks will happen. If this happens then we would be saving hundreds of lives without having the people who live there flooding into other countries in escape.
we think earthquakes are bad by and hurt people and damage the earth n stuff by emily and beckii 9vel xx
"Officials have confirmed that hundreds of buildings have collapsed in Padang and several other towns, trapping an unknown number of people inside"
Why do people continue to live in danger areas like these when devistation can occur?.
An interesting suggestion Rhianna. Would it work in reality though?
Laura - there are many reasons why people continue to live in hazardous areas (not just earthquake zones). See what you can find out and let us know what you come up with!!
Earthquakes are a growing hazard and countries like Indonesa - who have little money and technology - should be being helped by richer countries like our own. We can help them since they cant predict when these freak occurences will happen. We can prevent deaths and shouldn't be standing by while poorer countries suffer.
we think that natural hazards can be sometimes really dangerous. we think that poorer countries need more help from others so that they can also detect when a hazzard is about to take place and save lots of lives. from emma n leah 9Dsw
Jess, Emma and Leah - great idea... in theory! Would it work in practice? Haven't we got more important/useful things to spend our money on? Wouldn't it be better that people just didn't live in hazard prone areas??
We think earthquakes cause a lot of problems to the people who live there. It's the worst type of natural disaster.
Luke & Jess Elliot
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