Earthquakes

Earthquakes can strike suddenly and without warning. An earthquake is a violent and abrupt shaking of the ground, caused by movement between tectonic plates along a fault line in the earth’s crust. Earthquakes can result in the ground shaking, soil liquefaction, landslides, fissures, avalanches, fires and tsunamis. The extent of destruction and harm caused by an earthquake depends on:

  • magnitude
  • intensity and duration
  • the local geology
  • the time of day that it occurs
  • building and industrial plant design and materials
  • the risk-management measures put in place.

Between 1998-2017, earthquakes caused nearly 750 000 deaths globally, more than half of all deaths related to natural disasters. More than 125 million people were affected by earthquakes during this time period, meaning they were injured, made homeless, displaced or evacuated during the emergency phase of the disaster.

Earthquakes Impact

Health threats due to earthquakes can vary according the magnitude of the earthquake, the nature of the built environment (such as poor housing or urban slums), and the secondary effects of the earthquake, like tsunamis or landslides. Earthquakes can have immediate and long-term impacts on health.

Immediate health impacts include:

trauma-related deaths and injuries from building collapse;
trauma-related deaths and injuries from the secondary effects of the earthquake, like drowning from tsunamis or burns from fires.
Medium-term health impacts include:

Know Earthquakes

Earthquakes can strike suddenly and without warning. An earthquake is a violent and abrupt shaking of the ground, caused by movement between tectonic plates along a fault line in the earth’s crust. Earthquakes can result in the ground shaking, soil liquefaction, landslides, fissures, avalanches, fires and tsunamis. The extent of destruction and harm caused by an earthquake depends on: