Earthquake Disaster.Thousands of people were trapped under the rubble of their homes when a disastrous earthquake struck India India, officially Republic of India, republic (2005 est pop. 1,080,264,000), 1,261,810 sq mi (3,268,090 sq km), S Asia. The second most populous country in the world, it is also sometimes called Bharat, its ancient name. India's land frontier (c. on January January: see month. 26. The quake Quake - A string-oriented language designed to support the construction of Modula-3 programs from modules, interfaces and libraries. Written by Stephen Harrison of DEC SRC, 1993. , which killed more than 18,000 people, is the worst to hit that country in 50 years. (See article on pp. 12-15.) The quake registered 7.9 on the Richter (RICK-ter) scale, a 10-point number system that measures the force of earthquakes. Any quake over 6.0 can cause great damage, especially if it hits near a city. Relief teams dug through the rubble to find survivors. Now, the need is for tents to temporarily house people who lost their homes. Where will the next quake strike? Unlike hurricanes, floods, and some other natural disasters, scientists have not found a way to predict when and where an earthquake will strike. When Plates Go Bump What causes earthquakes? Scientists have developed a theory called plate tectonics plate tectonics, theory that unifies many of the features and characteristics of continental drift and seafloor spreading into a coherent model and has revolutionized geologists' understanding of continents, ocean basins, mountains, and earth history. to explain why most earthquakes occur. The theory says that the Earth's crust crust Outermost solid part of the Earth, essentially composed of a range of igneous and metamorphic rock types. In continental regions, the crust is made up chiefly of granitic rock, whereas the composition of the ocean floor corresponds mainly to that of basalt and gabbro. , or outer surface, consists of about 10 large, rigid plates and 20 smaller ones. These plates are in constant motion. They move slower than molasses molasses, sugar byproduct, the brownish liquid residue left after heat crystallization of sucrose (commercial sugar) in the process of refining. Molasses contains chiefly the uncrystallizable sugars as well as some remnant sucrose. , but when they bump into bump v. bumped, bump·ing, bumps v.tr. 1. To strike or collide with. 2. To cause to knock against an obstacle. 3. a. each other, watch out! Most quakes occur when two or more moving plates get stuck together. Pressure builds up as the plates try to move but cannot. When they finally shift, they release a huge amount of energy in the form of earthquakes. Most earthquakes occur along the boundaries of these massive plates. The world map shows the plates' boundaries and major earthquake zones. The inset map shows the location of the recent quake in India.
DEADLIEST QUAKES
1985-2001
YEAR LOCATION DEATHS SIZE
1985 Mexico 9,500 8.1
1988 Armenia 55,000 7.0
1990 Iran 40,000+ 7.7
1993 India 9,748 6.3
1995 Japan 5,500 6.9
1998 Afghanistan 4,700 6.9
1999 Turkey 17,200 7.4
2001 India 18,000+ 7.9
(*.)Measured on the Richter scale.
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