Earthquake of the Year and Japan’s Worst Nightmare

“Earthquake of the Year and Japan’s Worst Nightmare”

  Name: Taylor Bishop

  Instructor: Michael Lyle  

  Date: September 28, 2016

  Course: Oceanography 111

                             “Earthquake of the Year and Japan’s Worst Nightmare”  

In the geological science realm, many people understand the exact definition of an earthquake. Outside the science realm, many people think they understand the definition of an earthquake, but do they know? This synopsis will help anyone that reads it a much better idea of what exactly happens during an earthquake. Also, this paper will give specific facts or data from a recent earthquake that occurred in Japan on April 14, 2016. There are so many people that live in cities around the world that are prominent for their earthquakes. Mother nature can be a powerful thing, and unfortunately the people of Kyushu, Japan took a hit by mother nature on April 14, 2016 (Vervaeck, 2016).  

Moreover, an earthquake happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another. Not to mention the surface where these blocks move is called the fault or fault plane. In addition to this, there is a location above the surface and area below the surface. The location below the surface is called the hypocenter, and the location directly on the surface when the earthquake starts is called the epicenter (Waid, 2012). Another key thing to remember is that sometimes an earthquake can have foreshocks. When this happens, smaller earthquakes occur in the same area as the larger earthquake follows. As well is this there is the main shock, which, is the main quake, and the main shock always has aftershocks that follow (Trujillo, 2015 P.52).

On April 14, 2016, the people Kyushu, Japan experienced on of the worst earthquakes in the year 2016 (Vervaeck, 2016). However, On April 14, 2016, the foreshock earthquake had a depth focus of 10km, which was beneath Mount Kinpu and to the northwest of the city center. During the evening hours, the 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Kyushu, and the results were terrifying. Despite nine deaths and 800 people getting injured many sources said it could have been worst. Unfortunately, the main shock occurred on April 16, 2016, with a magnitude of 7.3, and this helped the death tolls rise to a total 40 of deaths during this earthquake (Glum, 2016).

 Nevertheless, the reason Japan has so many earthquakes in this area is that of their location along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. With this in mind, the imaginary ring is considered to be the most active earthquake belt in the world. The Pacific Ring of Fire includes several tectonic plates including the Pacific plate and the Philippine Sea plate. Notably, the earth’s surface is broken up into about a dozen or so significant chunks that are moving around. All of the plates mentioned interact at their edges. However, this earthquake happened to be triggered when the Philippine Sea Plate was dividing underneath the Eurasia plate (Glum, 2016).