Tectonic Hazard Contrast
Why do two earthquakes cause such different damage? Compare the impacts and management of the 2011 Christchurch and 2015 Nepal earthquakes, and see how a country's wealth shapes the outcome.
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Same hazard, different disaster 🌋
Earthquakes strike all around the world, but a quake in one country can cause far more death and destruction than a similar one somewhere else. Why? The answer is often the country's **development level** - its wealth, buildings and preparedness. In this module you will learn what causes tectonic hazards, then contrast two real earthquakes: the 2011 **Christchurch** quake in New Zealand and the 2015 **Nepal** quake.
Inside the Earth 🔑
Tectonic hazards start deep inside the Earth:
From the centre out 🧅
An interactive activity.
Match each boundary 🔗
- Constructive
- Destructive
- Conservative
- Hotspot
- Plates move apart and new crust forms; gentle volcanoes
- Plates collide and one sinks; violent volcanoes and strong quakes
- Plates slide past each other; earthquakes but no volcano
- A plume of magma rises away from any boundary
The most violent boundary 🎯
At which type of plate boundary do you get the most violent volcanoes AND strong earthquakes?
- A destructive boundary
- A constructive boundary
- A conservative boundary
- Nowhere near a boundary
Primary and secondary impacts ⚖️
When a quake strikes, geographers sort the effects into two groups.
Which are secondary? ✅
Select the TWO secondary impacts of an earthquake.
- A landslide burying a village days later
- A disease outbreak in crowded shelters
- Buildings collapsing during the shaking
- People injured by falling debris
Two earthquakes, two countries 🌏
In 2011 a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit **Christchurch, New Zealand**, a wealthy **developed** country. Around 185 people died, and severe liquefaction damaged buildings and roads. In 2015 a stronger magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck **Nepal**, an **emerging/developing** country. Around 9,000 people died and huge numbers of homes were destroyed. The difference in outcome is shaped by each country's wealth, buildings and preparedness.
Tectonics in words 🧱
The Earth's thin outer layer is the _____, which is broken into moving plates. Where plates collide at a _____ boundary, there are violent volcanoes and strong earthquakes. Deaths and collapsed buildings caused directly by the shaking are _____ impacts, while later effects like landslides and disease are _____ impacts. A wealthy, _____ country can usually respond faster because it has more money and better-built homes.
The developed response 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Why the bigger disaster? 💥
The 2015 Nepal earthquake killed far more people than the Christchurch quake. Which reason best explains why an emerging country often suffers more?
- Many of its buildings were not built to resist strong shaking
- It had much stricter building codes than New Zealand
- It had far more emergency money ready to spend
- It was nowhere near a plate boundary
Managing the disaster 🪜
An interactive activity.
Work the contrast 🧭
An interactive activity.
Contrast the two quakes ✍️
An interactive activity.