GEO 1001/1101 - Earthquake Video – Notes & Quiz Questions

 Video is Earthquakes: The Terrifying Truth
 on reserve at the Smart Learning Commons, 2nd floor of Walter Library

Disclaimer:
The video is an ABC production and consequently has a few flaws. Martin Sheen narrates as an on-screen presence and the script is overly melodramatic in more than a few spots.
It also contains some footage from Hollywood movies and dramatizations, rather than reality.

Pros:
This is one of the few American videos on earthquakes that covers more than California.
The video also has extensive footage shot from real earthquakes that gives of sense of what it would be like to be in one.

Throughout the video, try to pay attention to what is real and what is dramatization.
Keep in mind that the video was made in 1994, as it references ‘last year’, etc.


General Points


Northridge Segment
What are ‘buried thrusts' and what implications do they have for the Los Angeles area.
(Note: Compare the scale (duration and total motion) of this event to some of the other quakes covered and expected future events along the San Andreas.)





Landers Segment
Note the number of aftershocks that followed the Landers earthquake.  Why did this event increase the chance for an earthquake elsewhere along the San Andreas Fault system?






Japan Segment
What were the major causes of death in the Okushiri Island and 1923 Tokyo earthquakes?



Why is Tokyo considered overdue for another major earthquake?



How could a major earthquake in Tokyo affect the global economy?




Loma Prieta Segment
What is the fundamental problem with earthquake prediction?




China Segment
What lessons for earthquake prediction came from the Haicheng and Tangshan earthquakes?
(Note: recently the official Tangshen death toll was revised to being from 3x to 4x the original report.)







Earthquake Prediction
What was the result of the USGS’s 1985-1993 Parkfield earthquake prediction?
(Note: another earthquake occurred here 10 years after the video was made, without any forewarning.)



What risks are associated with even successful earthquake prediction?



Why is San Francisco assumed to be overdue for a major earthquake?



New York Segment
Why would East Coast earthquakes be potentially more dangerous than California quakes?




Building Designs
Why are many earthquakes in less-developed nations more deadly than in industrial nations?
(Note: this is a 1994 video that preceded the Kobe earthquake.  Many of the ‘earthquake-proof’ designed structures mentioned in the video's Japanese section failed the test of the Kobe earthquake.)





Final Segment
What are some of the benefits of the San Andreas Fault system?