Catastrophic earthquakes

It is known that our Earth is shaking, as if in a fever. Every year, an average of 300 thousand earthquakes occur on the planet, of which about 100 can be called, not only as catastrophic earthquakes. The championship in the number of catastrophic earthquakes is shared by Japan and Chile. Geographers call these countries "hammocks of the globe". And it is no accident: here on average more than 1000 earthquakes occur annually, that is, three per day. In 1930, even 5744 earthquakes were recorded in Japan (16 per day!).

The championship in the number of catastrophic earthquakes is shared by Japan and Chile

The earthquake nest in Japan is called the Izu Peninsula. Here, only from October 9 to October 12, 1986, 3200 tremors occurred. Many earthquakes also occur in other countries of the "ring of fire", often causing destruction and human casualties. So, we can rightly say about the inhabitants of seismically active regions that "they only dream of peace".

This applies not only to the West Coast of America, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines in East Asia, but also to Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. In particular, the catastrophic earthquake that occurred in the north of Sakhalin on May 27, 1995, completely destroyed the city of Neftegorsk, where more than 3000 residents died.

Strong and sometimes catastrophic earthquakes are also associated with the mountains of the Carpathians, the Caucasus and Central Asia. So, in the autumn of 1948, the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, was completely destroyed. Killed more than 110 thousand people. And after 40 years, in December 1988, a powerful earthquake in the north of Armenia led to the almost complete destruction of the cities of Gyumri, Kirovakan, Spitak and many surrounding villages. Killed more than 25 thousand inhabitants.

The region adjacent to Lake Baikal also belongs to the most "shaking" regions of the globe. Here, the number of earthquakes, mostly felt only by instruments, sometimes reaches 2000 per year.

But still, most earthquakes occur at the bottom of the oceans. So, in 1982, in the waters of the islands of Samoa in the Pacific Ocean, at the junction of the deep-water trenches Tonga and Kermadek, scientists counted more than 1000 tremors in just 17 days.

A catastrophic earthquake in its consequences was an earthquake that reached a strength of about 10 on the Richter scale. It occurred May 21-26, 1960 in the South American Republic of Chile. Judge for yourself: during this earthquake, huge bottomless cracks opened in the ground, which sometimes fell not only in individual houses, but also entire villages. Some coastal islands sank in the depths of the ocean with their entire population, and new ones appeared in return. With a terrible roar, high mountains fell into the valleys, the long-extinguished "old" volcanoes suddenly "woke up" and began to spew lava and ash, and new lakes formed. Thus, even the geography of this area has changed.

The Chilean catastrophic earthquake also captured a large area of the Pacific Ocean. Huge tsunami waves with a length of over 100 km and a height of 30-40 m, racing at the speed of a jet plane, hit the Chilean coast. They instantly destroyed and flooded all port cities. An earthquake swept over 100 thousand square meters. km As a result, about 35 cities and hundreds of villages were destroyed. Over 2 million people (almost 1/3 of the country's population) were left without housing. The number of deaths exceeded 10 thousand people.

Antarctica is the only continent where not a single earthquake has been recorded. The mystery of the seismic "indifference" of the sixth continent, despite the active volcanoes on it, has not yet been solved.

However, as some scientists suggest, earthquakes are impeded by the enormous severity of the ice shell. It’s a joke to say: the most powerful ice cover at 4780 m was recorded 400 km from the coast on Wilkins Land at a point with coordinates 69 gr. 9'38'' south latitude and 135 gr. 20'25'' East.

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