New Zealand’s Darkest Day
Article by: CNN
February 22, 2011
Online Magazine
Being shocked is not very pleasant, but being in an aftershock is even worse. February 21, 2011 around noon, 400,000 people were encountered with a massive earthquake. This 6.3 earthquake was actually a reverb of an earthquake that happened last year. New Zealand’s Prime Ministe says “This is New Zealand’s darkest day.” This quake has reportedly taken the lives of 65 people, and counting. The tremble of this earthquake basically flattened the city, destroying buildings and historical monuments. People say that this earthquake could hurt New Zealand’s fragile economy. Many say that this is the worst thing that has happened to New Zealand in past 80 years. Most of the earthquakes that happen in New Zealand are hardly felt, and do not cause a lot of damage. Clearly this one did. Every year New Zealand experiences about 15,000 earthquakes, this is not very much compared to 50,000 earthquakes that occur in California each year. Yet only one earthquake can make a big difference in a city. New Zealand is located on the western edge of the Ring of Fire. Any type of movement in the earth’s crust may result in an earthquake, when a country is located around a tectonic plate; it is usually prone to have earthquakes or tsunamis.
What a tragic event, one moment you’re enjoying the sunshine, the next you are ducking under a desk trying to save yourself from the collapsing roof. This just proves that you have to life each day to its fullest! These natural disasters are just big disasters, and some bad luck, but now with improved technology we can prevent the loss of life and damage. There are options that you have that can improve how safe you want to be. Sturdier houses and buildings have been build to protect people’s lives, all we have to do now is put it in action. Taking that extra safety precaution could save your life or someone else’s. Learning and researching could also help you in the future if you were encountered with a natural disaster. This article relates to the unit we are studying because it has to do with earthquakes and tsunamis, all about how waves move through the earth. If we didn’t know about this, the amount of causalities because of these natural disasters would be off-the-charts! The use of technology is very important in this area of science, because it helps us warn others when a earthquake might occur.
I have been in only one earthquake and that was here, in Belgrade, Serbia. That night I woke up to find my room vibrating! At first I was panicked and then I thought it was a dream so I pulled the sheets over my head and hoped that it would stop soon. I guess this wasn’t the safest way to take cover when in an earthquake, but thank goodness it wasn’t a very big earthquake. What if it was? I am so glad that I have learned more about earthquakes, and how they function, so next time if I am in one I will know what to do. After learning more about earthquakes it worries me that some person might do the same thing that I did, but he/she was in a bigger earthquake. What would happen then? I feel that being aware of what an earthquake or any natural disaster can do, is extremely important. If we want to protect ourselves from natural disasters we must start learning about them, and what we can do to stay safe.
Here are the results from the earthquake.
Blaise-This is an excellent example of why it is so important to follow the current events that are happening around us. I totally agree with you that knowledge and understanding of natural disasters is so important to our survival and now more than ever we are encountering more and more. The video and images you included in this post are really good. Perhaps even a link on Earthquake safety and how to make an Earthquake kit would be good too. :) Just an idea.
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