4 Most Dangerous Places on Earth
Maggie Ehlert, Kelsey Freund, Nicole Goshorn, Abby Steadham
Hawaii
Why People Live There
Hawaii being one of the United States most beautiful locations, who wouldn’t want to live there? With a population of 1,360,301 people, it is ranked number 40 in the United States population. Living there is like a vacation every day for the residents. With the war weather all year round the residents have many outdoor actives available to do. With ravishing scenery of the islands landscapes, it is the sight that will take your breath away. On the different islands of Hawaii there are many different experiences that are there. Being completely surrounded by water there are many activities that allow you to be outside and in the water, such as surfing, boating, swimming, water skiing, and etc. The beaches, weather, and beautiful scenery are what make Hawaii, Hawaii, but also the different cultures. These are just some of the many reasons why people would want to live and visit the Hawaiian Islands.
Tectonic Activity
When most earthquakes and volcanoes happen, two tectonic plates rub against each other or collide together. What happens when volcanoes and earthquakes happen in the middle of the plate? Hawaii is one of those places. Hawaii is located in the middle of the Pacific Plate. The Hawaii Islands are made up of volcanoes. These volcanoes were made by hotspots. A hotspot is a place in earth’s mantle where rocks melt and create magma, than the hotspot is pushed up by the mantle plume. This created the Hawaiian Islands as the magma kept pushing us melted rock. Today these hotspots are still active, and have been active for over 70 million years, as one of Hawaii’s most famous volcanoes.
The Dangers
Hawaii is a dangerous place as three of Hawaii’s volcanoes are still active today, Kilauea, Loihi, and Maunalua. With the earthquakes so closely linked to the volcanoes eruption, the earthquakes are low rated on the Richter scale. Earthquakes are very frequent in Hawaii, but are not felt by the people. In 1868 an earthquake accrued that was a 7.2 magnitude, this earthquake killed 81 people. Since 1983 Kilauea has been erupting constantly, Loihi has been erupting since 1996, and Maunalua last erupted in 1984. At any moment one of these volcanoes could erupt violently and kill and injure many people who live on the Hawaii Islands.
By
Maggie Ehlert
Indonesia
Living here
Indonesia is a beautiful chain of islands having very interesting attractions. Located in between the pacific and Indian ocean just north of Australia and south of Asia makes Indonesia a place to see. These islands have 25% of the earth’s coral reefs, beautiful golden beaches, rare rainforest flora and fauna, and a long list of exotic foods. A life in Indonesia can be challenging but exciting, efficient yet laid back, and cheap while memorable. Living here would give someone the vacation of a lifetime. Most of the beautiful areas happen by the ever moving tectonic plates.Tectonic Plates
Indonesia is located along the Australian plate, the pacific plate, and the Eurasian plate. The Australian and Eurasian plate meetings are along the congruent boundary having the Australian plate pushing under the Eurasian plate creating more trenches and earthquakes. Another on is where the pacific and the Eurasian plates cause volcanic activity found on the southern and western side of Indonesia because of the congruent boundary. Also with the congruent boundary, the pacific and Australian plates make the mountain ranges also located along the south and west side of Indonesia. A lot of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen when all of the plates move to form these land masses.
Be Careful
Indonesia may be beautiful when you look at it from a glance, but when you are looking deeper than the skin you find out it is very dangerous. Many horrible earthquakes and volcano eruptions have happened here. Over all, major earthquakes have caused over 231,398 deaths and 129,000 damaged buildings. Volcanoes on the island are just as bad having 174,495 deaths. Other deaths caused by these natural disasters come up to at least 495,065. Indonesia can be beautiful, but also dangerous, for visitors and the residents.
By
Abby Steadham
Alaska
Alaska is a beautiful state, located on the northwest corner of North America. It is also the largest state in the United States. It is filled with many kinds of wildlife, plants, animals, and cultures. There are parts that get a lot of snow in the winter, and parts that are warm and colorful in the summer. A lot of Alaska is inhabited and filled with wildlife. You can live in total isolation, or surrounded by many people. Alaska is a very popular tourist location because of it’s sightseeing and wildlife. There are many outdoor activities and beautiful scenery to see in Alaska.
Alaska is the most tectonically active area in the United States.On the Northwest corner of North America, Alaska is situated at the end of the Pacific Plate where it slides past southeast Alaska, and collides with the North American plate. A large amount of stress builds up along the transition of these plate boundaries. This is what causes the high amount of earthquakes. There is active mountain building in Alaska because of this movement of the Earth’s crust.
Even though Alaska is beautiful, it is a very dangerous place to live. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are things that Alaskans have learned to live with. On average, Alaska experiences two volcanic eruptions per year, and 50-100 earthquakes daily (most are under a 2.5 on the Richter scale). Alaska has had 3 of the 10 largest earthquakes ever recorded in the world, and 10 of the 15 largest earthquakes recorded in the United States. The earthquake it’s most famous for was in 1964, which has the record for the second most powerful earthquake ever recorded in history at a 9.2 out of 10 on the Richter scale. Alaska has had almost $1 billion in damages and thousands of lives taken away from seismic activity.
By
Nicole Goshorn
Japan
Japan is an interesting and amazing place that is an island in East Asia. Or in other words located in the Pacific Ocean. There is a large number of people that live in Japan today. People wonder why Japan has such a big population and that is because of these reasons. The good medical insurance, the cultural and traditional event which go on all year round in there country where festivals are celebrated, the healthy foods, the good hospitality and services, and the never ending opportunities for interesting experiences. Japan is a popular tourist place because of it's sightseeing. They are many things to do and even go see in Japan. When you're in Japan the word " bored " will never be mentioned ,because that's how amazing Japan is.
Japan has such a large portion for earthquakes and disasters because it sits right on top of the four huge slabs of the earths crust , also known as the tectonic plates. But in this case the plates that Japan lies on are the Pacific and the Philippine Sea oceanic plates. Those plates then mash and grind together which then triggers the deadly earthquakes that happen in Japan. The activity can also create the volcanoes to erupt. But why this happens is also because Japan lies right along the “Pacific Ring of Fire” which says it is a narrow zone where a large chunk where the earths earthquakes and volcanoes occur. In Japan 90% of all the world's earthquakes and 80% of the largest ones always strike around the Ring of Fire that I mentioned about.
Japan on an average gets almost 1000 earthquakes a year, which means that Japan would usually have 2-3 earthquakes per day. Like earlier when I was talking about the tectonic activity this is the reason why a lot of those earthquakes occur in Japan, because Japan is located on those four plates which move and grind together. There volcanoes erupt 99 times a year, but sometimes Japan volcanoes won’t erupt for 10 years or less. Some estimates say that approximately all the deaths added to together totaled to about 700-850 people lose their lives each year due to the volcanic activity. The cost of the damage wasn’t close to being cheap, the total cost of the eruption was $39 million dollars worth of damage to agriculture.
By
Kelsey Freund
Sources
Maggie
http://www.alohafriends.com/movetohawaii.html
http://www.ipl.org/div/stateknow/popchart.html
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/what-is-a-hot-spothttp://bialoglowy.blogspot.com/2007/01/top-10-best-of-living-in-indonesia.html
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/indonesia/seismotectonics.php
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/The_Geology_of_Indonesia/Plate_Tectonic
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2009/us2009cybb/#summary
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2009/us2009lbat/#summary
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2009/us2009kjak/#summary
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2009/us2009mebz/#summary
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2009/us2009mfaf/#summary
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2009/us2009nta5/#summary
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01747/volcano_1747497i.jpg
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001439.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0197833.html
http://www.fredhoogervorst.com/photo/05858/
Nicole
http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/vltpage2.html
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaskas-biggest-volcanic-eruptions
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/natural-disasters/4219868
Kelsey
http://prafulla.net/graphics/events/some-major-earthquakes-throughout-history
http://www.livescience.com/30226-japan-tectonics-explosive-geology-ring-of-fire-110314.htm
http://shockerz.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/top-10-reasons-why-people-want-to-live-in-japan/