Preview

To What Extent Are Volcanoes More Harmful To Our Society Than Earthquakes

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
811 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To What Extent Are Volcanoes More Harmful To Our Society Than Earthquakes
To what extent are volcanoes more harmful to our society than earthquakes?
Many people may argue that volcanoes are much more dangerous than earthquakes due to the devastating impact it has on people lives and the area it takes place in; however, others may solidify that earthquakes are infinitely more catastrophic than volcanoes considering the amount of destruction that it causes.
There are two types of plates, oceanic and continental. Various types of movement occur along the different types of plate boundaries. Earthquakes measuring a magnitude of 1-6 are not that powerful; therefore, not much damage will be produced; however, earthquakes measuring of a magnitude of 6+ are going to be much more severe. In my opinion, Earthquakes present people with a more immediate danger and are more dangerous towards people than volcanoes, especially when cities and towns are affected. Also earthquakes have several aftershocks which a highly dangerous. An earthquake takes place when two different tectonic plates converge or transform against one another causing them to get stuck, the pressure then builds up for hundreds of years until one day the pressure releases causing earthquakes.
The primary results being that they can kill/injure many people in collapsing buildings and do a mass of damage to the country economy's with the amount of money they have to put in for repairing buildings and funding emergency aid for people; however, this differs on how developed a country is. Earthquakes can also have secondary effects such as disease and starvation (LEDCs particularly) leading to more deaths and more funds being put into injuries. Furthermore, the reason why Earthquakes are more dangerous compared to volcanoes is that earthquakes are unpredictable; we only know they will happen along a plate margin but not where or when specifically. Some short term impacts of an earthquake could be that; People may be killed or injured. Homes may be destroyed. Transport and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Volcanic and seismic events can take place all over the world and therefore both more economically developed countries (MEDCs) and less economically developed countries (LEDCs) can be affected. In the last 30 years there have been multiple examples of where volcanic and seismic events have had an impact on both MEDCs and LEDCs. Some of these include the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the 2011 Japanese earthquake and the consequential tsunami. In this essay I will show how the impact of volcanic and seismic events have a greater impact on poorer countries than on richer countries.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Firstly I do not agree with this view I believe it is more to do with the human decisions that make a volcanic eruption a hazard. For example we can see this in such volcanic events such as Mount Pelée which erupted in 1902. In the town of St Pierre there was early warning or an eruption from the volcano. From mid-April animals in the area started dying from poisonous gas realised from the volcano. In early may more signs where showing to an eruption in the near future this made the inhabitants of the town nervous and some moving out to a safe distance from the volcano. However there was an election due to take place on the 10th May so the current governor did not want the population spread across the island, he decided to call in the army to keep people in the town and stop them leaving. On the 8th may the pressure became too much and caused an gas explosion which lead to a pyroclastic flow moving at 200kmph heading toward the town of St Pierre killing all but 2 of the 29,000 inhabitants. This shows how human decision coursed unnecessary death. I believe that if the evacuation took place when the early warning where recognised that the loss of life would have been kept down to smaller number.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    PLATE PAPER

    • 842 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Another main hazard is flooding, to explain a little better earthquakes can cause breaks in dams and levees. Causing the rivers to flood the reservoir, then the water can only move into the rest of the land. This will cause buildings, roadways, etc. to be destroyed or swept away, also people drowning. Earthquakes also can cause Submarine earthquake. They travel across the ocean floor at a high rate of speed have been known to cause Tsunamis. In 1964 the Alaskan earthquake caused damage to many regions in California, though not to Los Angeles at that time. Los Angeles is considered a tsunami…

    • 842 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Earthquakes are an example of seismic activity caused by the build-up of tension at the three types of plate boundaries: destructive, constructive and conservative. The pressure is suddenly released as the plates jerk past each other, sending out seismic waves from the focus that travel through different parts of the earth. The movement of convection currents within the Earth’s mantle causing the crust to become mobile which creates the different types plate margins, makes the cause due to physical factors. However human activity is suggested to be the cause of some minor earthquakes, for instance the building of large reservoirs where the water stresses the surface rocks or the subsidence of deep mine workings.…

    • 2230 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many horrible things that come with have to take care of the after math of earthquakes. Even through earthquakes usually are not the direct causes of death and injure people they do cause buildings to fall and falling building and pieces of buildings hurt and kill people. Many people have been killed and injured by buildings due earthquakes and the amount of money it costs to repair the damage is very pricey as…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A volcanic or seismic hazard can have an effect on all people from differing economic backgrounds and the extent of the disaster if often directly linked to the magnitude of the earthquake or the areal extent of the volcanic eruption. This is therefore a result of the occurrence of type of plate boundary. A volcanic eruption produced at a destructive plate boundaries is likely to be much more devastating than at a constructive. This occurs because the volcano is usually composite and therefore expresses rhyolitic lava with low silica content and therefore erupts unpredictably and with great force. At this plate boundary, a denser plate (e.g. oceanic or and older plate) subducts a less dense plate (continental or newer) and this plate descends into the asthenosphere. The plate melts at the Benioff zone due to increased temperatures and pressures and stress is…

    • 1487 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earthquakes develop in the crust of the earth. The inner parts contains a lot of energy. Some of this energy can escape through cracks which can cause volcanic activity, but most of it is stored within the earth’s inner part, contained in the crust.The earth’s outer crust has rough edges and lines making it look a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.The energy stored here causes the pieces to slide, glide, knock and move around each piece. These pieces are also known as tectonic plates.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One factor that heavily influences how hazardous a volcano is, is the plate boundary that it lies on. Subductive plate boundaries tend to produce much more violent eruptions than conservative or constructive margins. Subductive boundaries occur where two plates (one continental and one oceanic) are moving toward each other. The denser plate, the oceanic, is forced underneath the continental. As it subducts into the asthenosphere, it begins to turn back into magma. This magma is light and less dense than the asthenosphere, so it rises and forces its way through weaknesses in the crust. This is how volcanoes are formed on subductive margins. An example, is the Aleutian Islands which are a chain of volcanoes formed by the subduction of the pacific oceanic plate underneath the Eurasian/north American (?) plate.…

    • 627 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first thing earthquakes effects is earth. When two continental plates meet, earthquakes are happening, volcano eruptions and mountain formation caused by continental plates. Earthquakes cause the ground to shake and creates cracks and holes in the ground. They can also make trees and other objects in the wild or nature, fall and crash into the ground. Soil in the ground can change or liquefy because of earthquakes.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Volcanic hazards can be detrimental to the lives of the people who live near the active zone of the volcano in question due to their immense power coming from the centre of the earth however with effective management of the risks the number of deaths, disrupted lives and the economic damage can be reduced greatly. An example I will use of a recent volcano that erupted was Mt St Helens which is an active supervolcano located in Washington, USA - 96 miles south of the city of Seattle and 50 miles northeast of Portland. Clearly there is an active community of people living in close proximity of the volcano, at risk from ashfall and spewing lava.…

    • 764 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A hazard can best be defined as a 'situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property or the environment.' The overall impact of earthquakes as a natural hazard varies greatly from one place and timeframe to another. As do the types of hazards, which are categorised into primary and secondary. Primary hazards are created by the direct seismic energy of an earthquake; this could include liquefaction, slope failure and tsunamis. These primary hazards can in turn trigger secondary hazards such as floods, fires, disease and destabilisation of infrastructure. A number of factors play a part in determining the severity of these hazards.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Firstly, the extent to which preparation and planning can decrease effects can only be done by prediction. There are numerous ways in which volcanoes can be monitored but it does mean expense. The technology needed and the expertise in which to predict a volcanic hazard can only be generated by a good economy. Therefore some of the poorer countries cannot afford planning and such things. The impact that is experienced…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Northridge Earthquake

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Earthquakes are vibrations of earth caused by the rapid release of energy. These earthquakes can be caused by faults in the Earth’s crust scraping against each other. Faults are constantly sliding past each other, but can occasionally have difficulty when the earth around these faults cracks, causing the path to become rugged. When they don’t slide easily, they cause tension. When the tension and pressure is released, this causes said vibrations that can be large enough to damage and destroy cities, or so small that they can only be detected by a seismograph.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An earthquake is an emergency because it is unexpected and cause severe damage to environment and properties or lands. It can also severely harm human beings who happen to be in the designated area. In order to be prepared for unexpected situations like this there are some procedures people can follow to ensure safety around them. These are before the earthquake happens…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The benefits man can reap from volcanoes are, the land around the volcano that erupted would having fertile soil for agriculture, it will also have valuable minerals found in the volcanic areas, examples are, copper, gold, sliver and more. The tourism rate of the volcanic areas will increase. And, there will also be a source of geothermal energy in the volcanic areas.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays