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| How was Pakistan safe from disaster despite the magnitude 6.8 earthquake? |
An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred in Pakistan on Tuesday night, after which at least nine people were killed and 46 injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
After this earthquake, different types of videos were also seen on social media, in which scenes were shown when the tremors of the earthquake shook buildings and people came out of their houses in fear.
On the other hand, many people also shared such videos in which cracks appeared in the walls of their houses. They included a residential building in Islamabad, but after the earthquake, which was said to be centered in the Hindu Kush range in Afghanistan, many people seemed to question when and why earthquakes cause more damage.
This question can also be seen in the context that in June 2022, an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 occurred in the eastern part of Afghanistan, in which at least 1,000 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured.
On the other hand, the intensity of the earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday night was recorded higher than this, but the loss of life was less.
So why is it that thousands of people die as a result of an earthquake, but sometimes there is very little damage after an earthquake?
According to experts, several factors determine the extent of loss of life and property after an earthquake.
The first of these factors is the magnitude of the earthquake.
The magnitude of the earthquake
Earthquake intensity is measured on the Richter scale, and scientists use a number to measure how much seismic energy is released after an earthquake.
Each number represents an increase in tone through the sector magnitude scale.
The more energy released after an earthquake, the more destructive it will be.
In the year 2005, the earthquake that caused widespread destruction in Pakistan, its intensity was recorded as 7.6 on the Richter scale.
Depth of earthquake
The depth of any earthquake also determines how much damage it will cause. An earthquake can have a depth of up to seven kilometers below the earth's surface.
In general, the deeper the earthquake, the less damage it will cause because the energy released by the earthquake decreases as it reaches the surface.
It should be noted that according to the American Geological Survey, the magnitude of the earthquake in Afghanistan in June last year was 6.1, but it started at a depth of 51 km, while the center of the recent earthquake in Pakistan was 180 km deep in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan. , and possibly for this reason, Pakistan was spared much of the disaster.
Distance from epicenter
The epicenter of an earthquake is the point on the Earth's surface where the earthquake originates.
The intensity of the earthquake is highest at this epicenter and as the distance from the epicenter increases, the intensity of the earthquake decreases.
population
An essential factor that determines the damage caused after an earthquake is how densely populated the location is.
When an earthquake occurs in a place that is densely populated, of course, there is a fear of more damage, while in a non-densely populated area where there are fewer buildings or an earthquake in the middle of the ocean, the damage is less.
Local factors
Another important thing is the condition of the ground at the place where the earthquake occurred.
If the soil is sandy or wet, strong and prolonged shocks can cause landslides and damage to buildings on the surface.
Earthquake time
The timing of the earthquake is also important in determining whether the damage is more or less. If an earthquake occurs at night when people are asleep, they have less time to escape from the building after the initial tremors, and such earthquakes cause more casualties.
On the other hand, during daytime earthquakes, people can get out quickly and reach safe places.
Strength of buildings
It is also important to determine whether earthquakes have been taken into account in the preparation of buildings at any place and how strong these buildings are to withstand earthquake shocks or not.
Weak buildings or poorly designed buildings can collapse quickly after an earthquake and cause more damage.
At the same time, one thing is that in developed countries, where there is a strong economy, there are better resources to deal with earthquakes and the risk of damage is also less.