Blog

Today we will talk about a natural disaster which is known as Earthquake. Whenever it came it has brought destruction with it and killed many precious lives. At times, there were many disasters that may not be forgotten. In 2011, Japan had a 9 magnitude earthquake that killed 19,000 people. Or in Indonesia, in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake killed almost 200,000 people. And now just a few months ago, on February 6, 2023, Turkey and Syria had a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed thousands of people and destroyed many houses, and made millions homeless.

What is the basic reason for an earthquake to occur?

At this time, let’s understand the basic reason for an earthquake to occur. In earlier stories, we used to hear that the earth is sitting on the horns of the bull and when the bull moved its head, the earth shakes. Please tell us in the comments how many of you have heard this story.

But today we will know the real reason for the earthquake. Friends, the earth has a total of 4 layers. We live on the outermost layer of the earth known as the Crust. There is a layer under the crust called Mantle. And under that, there are the hottest layers, the outer core and inner core. The temperature of the inner core layer is 5,200 degrees Celsius. The Crust and Mantle layers together form a lithosphere which is formed in many small large pieces of tectonic plates. These tectonic plates fit together like a puzzle in each other. But they never remain stationary in one place and move for many centimeters throughout the year.

The movement of these plates can be understood with the help of an example. When you heat water in a utensil, the hot water molecules rise in the form of bubbles or cool molecules below. This process continues until you heat the water and this process is known as convection current in science.

Now, in the same way, it can be understood that the innermost layer of the earth is the core, which is made up of lava. The tectonic plates are moved by the process of the Mantle and convection current means that hot and cool process. Due to the movement of tectonic plates, they collide with each other many times, due to which friction is produced on their corners. And many times they get stuck at some point, which generates a lot of pressure. As a result, a vibrating friction energy is produced, which is called seismic waves or waves of the crust.

How to measure Earthquake waves?

Earlier, earthquake waves were measured with a rector scale. And since 1979, the earthquake has been measured with a movement magnitude scale, which is in the scale limit of 0 to 10.

What is Epicenter?

Now where these tectonic plates collide, that particular point is called the hypocenter and focus point, and the exact straight upwards point is called the epicenter. And this is where the earthquake destroys the most.

Turkey and Syria Earthquake

Now recently, the epicenter of the earthquake was in southern Turkey and northern Syria. Geographic specialists have said that the country is located on the most active tectonic plates of Turkey and Syria, which are the Anatolian Plate, Arabian Plate, and African Plate. In the last 100 years, there have been several major earthquakes occurs. But recently, the epicenter of the earthquake was made by the most densely populated area of Turkey, where many refugees from Syria also settled.

The buildings in these affected areas are said to be poorly constructed, old, and at high risk. And all this was known to the Turkish government, but again the same thing, they ignored as any other third world country. The way the buildings collapsed over there. This type of collapse is also called pancake collapse, where the foundation of the building is not as strong as it is weight.

Final Thoughts

Now, even after so much technological advancement, when such natural disasters are seen somewhere, then the thinker has to be forced to think that how cheap is the life of a human being. Which was not known to be saved or not, but somewhere or the other, some people are definitely ignored.

When the Turkish government knew that this area was affected for a long time, then why did not the precautions be used? So many people have lost their lives.

To watch more videos related to these topics in Punjabi Click here

If you want to read more articles like this. click here

Thank you so much. See you in the next informative blog. Till then be safe.