Delhi, Islamabad Vulnerable in Major Earthquakes

[RiazHaq]

The recent 7.0 earthquake that caused an estimated 200,000 deaths in Haiti has revived discussion of potential loss of life from seismic activity in many cities in the developing world, including the South Asian capitals of Islamabad, Kathmandu and New Delhi, all located close to the South Asian fault lines.



GeoHazards International, a Palo Alto, Calif. nonprofit research organization aiming to reduce suffering due to natural disasters, predicts that a 6.0 earthquake on the Richter scale would cause tens of thousands of deaths in major cities in the developing world. Here is GeoHazards' list of top 10 major cities and their expected minimum death tolls in the developing world which are most vulnerable to major earthquakes of 6.0 (or higher) intensity:

1. Kathmandu, Nepal 69,000
2. Istanbul, Turkey 55,000
3. Delhi, India 38,000
4. Quito, Ecuador 15,000
5. Manila, Philippines 13,000
6. Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Pakistan 12,500
7. San Salvador, El Salvador 11,500
7. Mexico City, Mexico 11,500
7. Izmir, Turkey 11,500
10. Jakarta, Indonesia 11,000

Haq's Musings: Earthquake Fears in India and Pakistan

Haq's Musings: Is Haiti's Tragic Disaster Entirely Natural?

 

[karan.1970]

Is the number next to the city the expected casualties??

 

[RPK]

Global plate tectonic movement

 

[FreekiN]

Global plate tectonic movement

America and Europe are screwed.

 

[Vassnti]

America and Europe are screwed.

I think you will find they look black be cause of the number of testing sites, what to look for is not the number of arrows but the legth of them.

 

[Super Falcon]

ALMIGHTY ALLAH MAY KEEP US ALL IN HIS REHMAT AND SAVE US FROM THIS DEVASTATING PUNISHMENT FROM ALLAH LETS ASK ALLAH FOR FORGIVENESS

OH MY DEAR ALLAH FORGIVE ALL OUR SINS AND KEEP YOUR KINDNESS ON US AND HELP US TO GO ON RIGHT PATH OF LIFE ACCORDING TO YOUR LAWS AND SAVE US FROM YOUR PUNISHMENT ALLAH YOU ARE GRETEST OF GRREAT FORGIVE US AND OUR SIN"S AND SIN"S OF OTHER"S AND OUR FAMILY MEMEBRS

 

[FreekiN]

I think you will find they look black be cause of the number of testing sites, what to look for is not the number of arrows but the legth of them.

California is screwed. D:

Also, Australia. D:

 

[RiazHaq]

California is screwed. D:

Also, Australia. D:

It's a misreading of the post, and the maps.

Let me tell you why. Both San Francisco in 1989 and Haiti this year were hit by a 7.0 quake; yet SF quake caused only 63 deaths while the Haiti tremor claimed 200,000 lives. It's because of the quality of construction, stringent code enforcement and lack of corruption, as well as the highly effective emergency services for disaster response in the United States. The poor Haitians had no such luck.

The figures in my post are for deaths in a 6.0 quake. While a 6.0 earthquake would also cause potential deaths and damage in cities like Los Angeles and Tokyo, the much higher death toll and greater degree of destruction in developing nations has more to do with corruption, economics and engineering than geology.

Haq's Musings: Is Haiti's Tragic Disaster Entirely Natural?

Haq's Musings: Rampant Corruption in Construction Industry

 

[Gin ka Pakistan]

We should learn from Japanese for how to live in earth quake zones

 

[Kompromat]

California is screwed. D:

Also, Australia. D:

Kon kehta hai kay Maut ai to Marjaonga

Main to Darya hun samanar main utar jaonga.

 

[Nemesis]

If a major earthquake happens in Delhi, i think we'll be pretty much screwed. Especially the people living in the trans yamuna area.

 

[rajeev]

Global plate tectonic movement

I am illiterate in this matter, can some body explain why only US and Europe has so much shifts? Is it because more data is compiled for US and Europe because of financial resources they have?

 

[Awesome]

America and Europe are screwed.

lol, took the words out of my mouth.

 

[RiazHaq]

ALMIGHTY ALLAH MAY KEEP US ALL IN HIS REHMAT AND SAVE US FROM THIS DEVASTATING PUNISHMENT FROM ALLAH LETS ASK ALLAH FOR FORGIVENESS

OH MY DEAR ALLAH FORGIVE ALL OUR SINS AND KEEP YOUR KINDNESS ON US AND HELP US TO GO ON RIGHT PATH OF LIFE ACCORDING TO YOUR LAWS AND SAVE US FROM YOUR PUNISHMENT ALLAH YOU ARE GRETEST OF GRREAT FORGIVE US AND OUR SIN"S AND SIN"S OF OTHER"S AND OUR FAMILY MEMEBRS

As you pray, it is also important to prepare.

Dr. Brian Tucker of Geo Hazards believes that schools, hospitals and crucial buildings like the U.N. mission that collapsed in Haiti can be reinforced to withstand quakes by adding just 4% more to the cost of construction--something he urges foreign donors to keep in mind while giving aid. "It's not God that's doing this," Tucker recently told Forbes magazine. "It's men who are not building correctly."

Speaking at a World Affairs Council meeting in San Francisco, Tucker recently talked about his work with The Academy of Sciences in Pakistan to set up remote training of people involved in building construction. Tucker also mentioned Geo Hazards' work with communities in Nepal to retrofit schools to withstand earthquakes. They went door to door to explain to parents what can be done, provided partial funding and training to masons, and the masons then helped reinforce schools and offer services to community members to retrofit or build many earthquake-resistant homes in Kathmandu. Part of the masons' training involved showing them how the slow, wet curing of concrete makes a big difference in its ability to withstand forces created during earthquakes. Proper slow curing of concrete is necessary but not sufficient. Concrete is a material that is very strong in compression, but relatively weak in tension. To compensate for this imbalance in concrete's behavior, rebar (reinforcing carbon steel bar) is cast into it to carry the tensile loads. In collapsed school structures in China and Pakistan, thin, bendable wire was the only evidence of rebar, the material that holds concrete structures together. Generally speaking, the less steel in a concrete building, the less strength it has to withstand movement.

 

[Vassnti]

California is screwed. D:

Also, Australia. D:

Australia is lucky to be sitting in the midle of the plate, they have very few serious earthquakes.

a better map is http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ it shows earthquakes over the last 5 years.

As you can see little old NZ is in a lot more danger than the aussies.