1990 A 7 Earthquake example essay topic

On June 21st, 1990 a 7.7 earthquake rolled through northwestern Iran. The worst earthquake to strike Iran in 12 years shook cities at 12: 30 a.m. The earthquake killed an estimated 50,000 people, injuring 200,000, and leaving 500,000 homeless. Tehran lies on a strike-slip fault. The Eurasian plate is pushing into the Arabian plate... causing a strike-slip fault. This eventually leads to many cracks in the Eurasian plate.

Fault Lines Iran lies in an earthquake belt extending from Turkey through the Caucasus Mountains and farther east into the Himalayas. The belt is stradeling the area where the Arabian tectonic plate is pushing gradually northeastward, at a rate of five inches per year. As the plates move in this direction, it continually collides with the larger Eurasian plate and energy is transferred from the collision to fault lines running through it. These fault lines run through Northwestern Iran ~Damages~ This earthquake toppled buildings and damaged or destroyed over 100 towns and villages.

Gilan's capital city of Rasht was shaken hard and a dam south of it flood the countryside and caused even more deaths and injuries. The first shake lasted more than a minute, and it was followed by more than 12 after shocks, one of them reaching 6.5 magnitute. 90% of the buildings were destroyed and there wasn't a single house that was left standing. In a nearby towns of Abn-Dar and Bouin, every building was flattened and every resident was killed. The rescuers battled bad weather and blocked roads. Victims were taken out from under buildings by hand and were taken on stretchers and flown by a helicopter to hospitals in Teheran.

Within days after the quake, international aid began to arrive. French rescue workers used trained dogs to search for victims. Cranes lifted concrete slabs and bulldozers cleared roads for ambulances and other rescue cars. Huge areas were left without water and electricity. The earthquake struck an estimated 40,000 square miles.

~Interesting facts~. Ever since AD 700, when records of the area's earthquakes were begun, this part of Iran has undergone devastating earthquakes... 12 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 7 rumbled through the area from 1960 through 1990... Teheran University recorded 7.3 on the Richter scale; the US Geological Survey at Golden, Colorado recorded 7.7. The epicenter was located in the Caspian Sea... On Sunday June 24th, three days after the original earthquake hit, a 6.5 aftershock rolled through the area.

Homework On June 21st, 1990 a 7.7 earthquake rolled through northwestern Iran. Homework.