GCSE-ready- Home
- Lessons
- GCSE & IGCSE Geography A
- Managing earthquakes
Managing earthquakes
🎬 The doodle video for this lesson is coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to see it first.
Earthquakes cannot be predicted precisely. But good preparation and planning save many lives.
Preparation
Warning: seismometers detect the first fast waves and can send an alert seconds before strong shaking arrives, as in Japan's earthquake early warning system.
Evacuation plans and drills: Japan holds drills every year on Disaster Prevention Day (1 September).
Building design: deep foundations, base isolators (rubber shock absorbers), cross-bracing and flexible steel frames.
Remote sensing (satellites) and GIS map faults and areas at risk.
Evacuation plans and drills: Japan holds drills every year on Disaster Prevention Day (1 September).
Building design: deep foundations, base isolators (rubber shock absorbers), cross-bracing and flexible steel frames.
Remote sensing (satellites) and GIS map faults and areas at risk.
Short-term responses
Search and rescue teams find survivors in collapsed buildings.
Emergency aid: shelter (tents), clean water, food and medical care.
Restoring roads, power and communications.
International teams and charities often help.
Emergency aid: shelter (tents), clean water, food and medical care.
Restoring roads, power and communications.
International teams and charities often help.
Longer-term planning
Risk assessment and hazard mapping show where shaking or landslides are most likely.
Land-use zoning keeps important buildings such as hospitals and schools out of the highest-risk areas.
Rebuilding to stronger building codes, and retrofitting older buildings.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 showed that even well-prepared countries can be overwhelmed.
Land-use zoning keeps important buildings such as hospitals and schools out of the highest-risk areas.
Rebuilding to stronger building codes, and retrofitting older buildings.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 showed that even well-prepared countries can be overwhelmed.
Explain how building design can reduce deaths in an earthquake.
- Base isolators absorb the shaking so less reaches the building.
- Cross-bracing and steel frames let buildings flex without collapsing.
- Fewer buildings collapse, so fewer people are crushed or trapped.
Answer: Earthquake-resistant buildings do not collapse, so fewer people die.
Prepare with early warning, drills, earthquake-resistant buildings, remote sensing and GIS. Short-term responses: search and rescue, shelter, water, food and medical aid. Long-term: risk assessment, hazard mapping, land-use zoning and rebuilding to stronger codes.
Check you have got it
Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.