Loma Prieta Earthquake Research Paper

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Earthquakes have created a big impact on the Earth, its inhabitants, and their property. Mountains are formed by earthquakes and oceans are poured in, changing the planet’s geography. Cracked buildings topple onto houses and people. The occurrence of an earthquake is usually negative, due to the destruction and chaos it causes. According to the informative brochure,”If You Traveled to Gondwana…” South America, Africa, Australia, India, and Antarctica were united in the supercontinent Gondwana 200 million years ago. Gondwana was the southern half of the supercontinent Pangaea, which consisted of all the land on Earth. Where two continental plates meet, mountains form and volcanoes erupt, thus, changing the landscape of the planet. Where continental plates move away from each other, ocean water pours into the gaps that are created. Because of this, plants and animals that once lived together become isolated. On the second page of the brochure, it stated “250 million years ago, the Tethys Sea flowed in to divide the supercontinent Pangaea into Laurasia in the North and Gondwana in the South.” This was an effect of the continental plates moving apart. …show more content…
The news report “Loma Prieta Earthquake” by Olivia Esposito described the earthquake. “With an epicenter near Santa Cruz, about 50 miles to the south, the quake measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale and shook the ground for 15 seconds.” Later in the article, it acknowledges the number of people who died and the number of people who sustained injuries because of the earthquake. 4000 people were injured and 60 people died in those 15 seconds. Many people who survived or lost loved ones sustained emotional trauma. The Loma Prieta Earthquake was only one of the many major earthquakes that occurred, meaning that the deaths of the Loma Prieta Earthquake are only a small fraction of the total deaths caused by earthquakes everywhere around the