Who Copes Better with Earthquakes: HICs or LICs?
Who copes better with Earthquakes: HIC or LIC?
This report will focus on examples of different earthquakes happening around the world and explain why some countries cope better than others. To cope well, the country should have low death tolls, good communication with rescue services and other countries willing to help, evacuation and other emergency plans are planned well, and minimizing the amount of damage done to the country.
What are HIC and LIC countries?
HIC, also known as MEDC, stand for Higher Income Country or More Economically Developed Country and LIC or LEDC mean Lower Income Country or Less Economically Developed Country. HICs have a high standard of living while LICs usually have a low standard of living. HICs are in very advanced stages of development or are already through development period, whereas LICs are still in developing stages of becoming a HIC.
Case Study: Kobe, Japan
On the 17th of January, 1995, an earthquake struck Kobe, the second most populated and industrialized city in Japan at 5:46 am. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale. The quake only lasted 20 seconds, but killed over 6,400 people.
This earthquake was caused by the subduction of the denser oceanic Philippines Plate by the lighter continental Eurasian Plate.
During the 20 second earthquake, the ground moved 50cm horizontally and 1m vertically. This caused over 350,000 people to become injured. More than 7,500 wooden houses completely collapsed. Some buildings built in the 1960’s were quite damaged while the modern buildings built to be earthquake proof stayed completely intact. Many shops and businesses were destroyed. 3% to 5% of Japan’s industry was located in Kobe. Almost all industries were severely damaged. This caused great problems for companies like Panasonic because they couldn’t transport their goods to and from other countries. Telephones and other communication services were put out of action making communication very difficult.
This report will focus on examples of different earthquakes happening around the world and explain why some countries cope better than others. To cope well, the country should have low death tolls, good communication with rescue services and other countries willing to help, evacuation and other emergency plans are planned well, and minimizing the amount of damage done to the country.
What are HIC and LIC countries?
HIC, also known as MEDC, stand for Higher Income Country or More Economically Developed Country and LIC or LEDC mean Lower Income Country or Less Economically Developed Country. HICs have a high standard of living while LICs usually have a low standard of living. HICs are in very advanced stages of development or are already through development period, whereas LICs are still in developing stages of becoming a HIC.
Case Study: Kobe, Japan
On the 17th of January, 1995, an earthquake struck Kobe, the second most populated and industrialized city in Japan at 5:46 am. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale. The quake only lasted 20 seconds, but killed over 6,400 people.
This earthquake was caused by the subduction of the denser oceanic Philippines Plate by the lighter continental Eurasian Plate.
During the 20 second earthquake, the ground moved 50cm horizontally and 1m vertically. This caused over 350,000 people to become injured. More than 7,500 wooden houses completely collapsed. Some buildings built in the 1960’s were quite damaged while the modern buildings built to be earthquake proof stayed completely intact. Many shops and businesses were destroyed. 3% to 5% of Japan’s industry was located in Kobe. Almost all industries were severely damaged. This caused great problems for companies like Panasonic because they couldn’t transport their goods to and from other countries. Telephones and other communication services were put out of action making communication very difficult.