Earthquake at Peru
On August 15, 2007, Wednesday, it was one of the strongest earthquake that ever hit the central coast of Peru. Its measuring was 8.0 magnitude. It lasted for about three minutes. It was located 150 kilometres, south-east of Lima, at the depth of 39 kilometres.
An earthquake happens when the tectonic plates which comprise the Earth's crust are in continuous movement, they either press against one another, move apart or move in opposite directions. The rubbing of plates against each other causes an accumulation of an enormous amount of energy and when the two plates move all of a sudden, it releases the energy which will then cause enormous vibrations. An earthquake may only occur for a few brief moments but the aftershocks can continue for weeks and the damage can continue for years.
Due to the earthquake, many people are trying to find their close ones or they are trying to oversee the shock of their lost family members, resulting to the lack of coordination and inadequate information on the needs of the survivors.
The quake resulted with many broken windows in downtown sectors of the city, as well as other affected Peruvian cities. There were more than 58000 homes being destroyed and a total of 519 casualties, together with 1366 injured. It also caused several landslides. This earthquake has generated a 10 meters high tsunami. After the earthquake, dozens of aftershocks were recorded ranging from 4.3 to 6.3 magnitude.
The government has funded, helped in medication supplies, provided Ministry of Health facilities, and shipping in medication supplies.
I think, we should always have our emergency backpacks ready for any emergency as we never know when it may come anytime. We can also strengthen the walls of some weak buildings and the buildings of earthquake prone areas.
URL's:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Puru_earthquake 26-2-2010
http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Earthquake2007Peru.html 26-2-2010
Courtney Brunious http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/earthquakes.htm 26-2-2010
Book(s):
Brown Watson The Big Book of Knowledge. 26-2-2010
