Week 3- Earthquakes

This week we learned about earthquakes. Very well on time for us to understand what happened in southern Mexico this Friday.

Basically an earthquake occurs when two plate faults move pass each other.

These faults sometimes get stuck as the rest of the plate moves on its normal course. When they are stock they store the energy that normally would move them around, that energy gets released when they finally move from where they were stuck. These energy moves are called “seismic waves” and when they reach up to the earth’s surface they make it shake. The spot on earth’s surface where the quake starts is called the epicenter. This main spot is where the mainshock occurs, and depending on the magnitude of such earthquake there could be aftershocks for weeks and even months to come.

In England, and the UK in general, there are not many occurrences of earthquakes. An average of 25 small ones are felt by people yearly. The largest known quake occurred in 1931 with a magnitude of 6.1. It caused minimum damage to buildings but not to people. The most damaging happened in 1884 when over one thousand buildings were damaged. The most recent earthquake was May 5, 2015. It was a magnitude 4.2 that lasted about 10 seconds. It caused no damages other than a few walls cracking, and books shaken on the shelves. This was the biggest they’ve had in seven years.

In the UK the North Sea experiences more quakes than the landlocked areas. An average of magnitude 4 every two years or so, so not very often.

“A quake of Magnitude 5 or bigger will occur every 100 years or so in Britain.” (BBC)

Since England isn’t prone to many earthquakes they don’t have a set way of damage prevention. Big newer buildings in London, however, are said to resist a 5.5 magnitude quake, as to the oldest ones is recommended that get remodeled.

Here, a couple of pictures of people in Kent having some fun after the 2015 quake!