The Strategy of Evacuation from Earthquake Affected Area - Research Paper Example

Topic The strategy of evacuation from earthquake affected area. Investigators The research conducted by Robert Olson for evacuation awareness in earthquake prone areas and to recognize the outlay for cost effective methods to develop evacuation attentiveness. The research conducted by Benjamin Wisner, on people’s susceptibility to natural disasters. The research conducted by Adams R. and Spence R. on the devastation caused by earthquake. Abstract The most terrifying and devastating occurrence in nature is undeniably an earthquake. An earthquake is shivering of earth with huge force, resultant of the strain released which was accumulated in earth from a long time. Earthquakes result in huge damages and loss of lives. Vigorous shaking of earth leads to collapsing buildings, tidal waves and fire eruptions. During earthquake, the strategy adopted for the evacuation from the affected place can make a difference of life and death for people. There are various factors which need to be taken into consideration for establishing the effectiveness of the evacuation methods. These factors include the intensity of the earthquake, the distance from the epicenter, the geography of the area, and the immediate aftermaths of earthquake. The immediate aftereffects of earthquake can result into a fire or the damages caused due to building collapsing. The strategy for evacuating patients from hospital or children from school is entirely different and need special deliberation considering the special requirements of the invalids and the children. Keeping these factors while formulating the strategies for evacuation will definitely lead to successful evacuation. The human needs to be extra careful to combat this wrath of nature. Earthquakes tops on the list of natural disaster known to humans as of today, a large extent of people globally faces wrath of earthquake every year but still treats it extremely unconscientiously due to this lack of awareness serious losses of human lives occur which can be avoided if they are provided with the emergency guidelines of what steps need to be taken throughout the earthquake and remedies past an earthquake. Raising of Earthquake resistant structures is one of the basic needs to prevent human loss during a earthquake. To reduce the sociological impacts and humanitarian loss from disasters such as earthquakes, proper knowledge is the solitary most excellent means that can aid human being to survive and reduce losses from earthquake. Introduction Aggressive shivering of land due to the release of gases in the form of high pressurized energy from earths crust is known as EARTHQUAKE. Usually landslides and volcano eruptions are generated from earthquakes. Earthquakes caused due to the movement and warping of earths crust are addressed as “Tectonic Earthquakes”. The geosphere of earth consists of several interlocked crustal plates persistently moving due to the slow eruption of gases and heat coming out from earth’s mantle & core. Geological timescale is used to calculate the time of plate’s movement over another plate. When the geological timescale is raised and a fault occurs in these plates interlocking habit resulting in jammed plate, the slow but continuous eruption of heat & gases begin to congregate underneath the defective plate and converts into immense quantity of energy turned into seismic waves got erupted disbalancing the plate’s position creating cracks and landslides on earths surface. According to geologists, 90% of collective energy underneath the plate is used to crack the plate for eruption turning into enormous heat due to the resistance while, only 10 % of that energy converts into Seismic waves erupting onto the surface. The heat generated by this process remains in the earth itself which is the main cause for the raise in temperature of earth. An earthquakes magnitude is calculated on the basis of data analyses collected by recording the flow of seismic energy. A magnitude is calculated on the basis of measurement of covered distance of seismic waves arising amid of earthquake core and the seismograph (Seismic wave measurement device). There are many magnitude scales available for measuring the magnitude; the most popular logarithmic instrument for the measurement of magnitude is “Richter Scale”. In the year 1934 Charles F. Richter (IT professional of California) invented a logarithmic instrument to measure data from earthquakes which can be further used to compare the different earthquakes, the mathematical device invented by him further called as “Richter scale”. The effects of an earthquake vary from place to place as flow of shockwaves fluctuates but the magnitude constantly remains equivalent due the one core of every earthquake. Particular zones witnessing Geological procedure involving 1 boundary of the crustal plate enforced below the boundary of other plate is known as Subduction zone. Regions accumulating huge inhabitants near sea line witness destructive earthquake & disasters like tsunami due to earthquake of these Subduction zones due to discharge of seismic moment. Geological studies, theories, machines and virtual lab experiments have retained remarkable growth in realizing extension of earthquake bust. On the other hand, the elements responsible for stable or unstable slips on crustal plate defects stay unearthed. As of today the knowledge of crustal plate’s dynamics and technicalities is imperfect because of deficiency of data on circumstances and technalities of defective plates situated in the deep. In a year more than 10 lacs incidents of earthquakes takes place, some of those go unnoticed as they are of too minor density to be felt by the people. The illustration shown below demonstrates the approximate figures of earthquakes with their magnitude and frequency of occurrence annually. Description Magnitude Frequency per year Enormous 8.0+ 1 Major 7.0-7.9 18 Large (critical) 6.0-6.9 120 Moderate (harmful) 5.0-5.9 1,000 Minor (lightly damaging) 4.0-4.0 6,000 Usually Noticed 3.0-3.9 49,000 Lightly detectable 2.0-2.9 300,000 Hardly noticeable less than 2.0 600,000+ Source: Earthquakes and the Urban Environment, Vol. 1, G. Lennis Berlin, 1980 Globally the earthquakes with moderate density causes severe damage to the people’s lives as because of the immature architecture design of the structure built over the earthquake prone areas irrelevant to dense population. The illustration given below shows earthquakes with the magnitude density occurred over in a period of past 20 years and the figures of human deaths claimed by earthquakes. Year Date Region Deaths magnitude 1971 02-09 Southern California 65 6.5 1972 12-23 Managua, Nicaragua 5,000 6.2 1976 02- 04 Guatemala 22,000 7.9 1977 07-27 Tangshan, China 250,000+ 7.6 1980 03- 04 Romania 2,000 7.2 1980 10- 10 Algeria 35,000 7.7 1981 11-23 Southern Italy 3,000 7.2 1982 06-11 Southern Iran 3,000 6.9 1983 12- 13 Yemen 28,000 6.0 1985 10- 30 Turkey 1,342 6.0 1989 09- 19 Mexico 10,000 7.0 1989 12- 07 Armenia 25,000 6.9 1989 10-17 Northern California 67 7.1 1990 06-20 Iran 40,000 7.7 Source: U.S. Geological Survey Considering the force and the strength which an earthquake possesses, the importance of application of right method of evacuation at right time becomes huge. Hence, the key research question for this research topic arises as – Does the application of correct strategy for evacuation during and immediately after earthquake can lead to saving of precious lives, which otherwise would be lost due to vague and haphazard methods adopted. Aim 1. To find out the various methods of evacuation in case of an earthquake. 2. To segregate the methods based upon their relevance as per the earthquake intensity and immediate repercussions. 3. To highlight the importance of adoption of appropriate strategies in saving lives. Methodology The methodology adopted for this research would include Primary research, secondary research from literature and website. The method would include the following for achieving the objective of the research. Literature searching critical analysis – the literature available on the evacuation method would be obtained and analyzed critically based on various parameters. For example, the appropriateness of the evacuation strategy identified based on the distance from the epicenter. The distance from the epicenter results in varying intensity and the methods of evacuation vary a great deal. Identification of research situations – the specific situations like evacuating a school or a hospital would be discussed and studied in detail. The evacuation methods in different situation would be analyzed critically. Sampling- A number of case studies related to earthquake would be referred to for this research. Data collection methods – data collection would be based on primary research and secondary research methods. Strategies- innovative strategies can be used to minimize bias and increase reliability/ validity. Timescale/ research planning The research would be completed in due time realizing the importance of on-time completion. The various phases of research would be planned with clear time definitions. Conclusion The conclusion will emphasize on the significance of evacuation strategy in case of an earthquake along with establishing some of the methods for easy evacuation and appropriate evacuation. It would also categorize the earthquake intensity, distance from the epicenter and the immediate earthquake and would suggest appropriate methods to be adopted for successful evacuation from a building during an earthquake. The research will reveal the necessary methods of evacuation during an earthquake and research will also enlighten on the methods to minimize the losses. In this research we have studied countrywide and local arrangements for the disaster management and knowledge of people about earthquakes. The results illustrate comparatively elevated hazard of unawareness among the people and the safety measurements adopted on what steps should be taken before earthquake, during an earthquake or past earthquake. As earthquakes can’t be predicted precisely and warning times are very short the possibilities of high losses of human lives escalates due to lack of sufficient knowledge. Research also revealed that there is a vast lack of formal system in locals to evacuate the people during or after the earthquake. Study also revealed that a maximum no. of losses occurs from aftershocks of earthquake such as fires and building collapse resulting in more deaths comparable as of during earthquakes. Given, the adequate measures and appropriate social awareness on measures to be taken during or after earthquake can lead to avoid losses up to an extent of 50%. As earthquake provides no point in time for organized evacuation there should be an appropriate pre-planning and public awareness to educate public on methods of evacuation. An evacuation drills should also be studied and practiced in earthquake prone areas. Bibliography Berlin, G. L. (1980). In Earthquakes and the Urban Environment, Vol. 1. Dowrick, D. J. Earthquake Risk Reduction . elizabeth, S. Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man . http://earthquake.usgs.gov. (n.d.). Olson, R. In s. ,. Brian Cowan, Directory of Northridge Earthquake Research . R., A. R. (1999). Natural disaster management. Read More