World's Most Dangerous Locations
By: Jessica B, Addison F, Abby P, and Brandon N
Introduction
Chile, South America
Not What It Seems
Located along the western coast of South America lies a strip of land named Chile. The country of Chile is in between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. There are many large cities in this country filled with towering skyscrapers and bustling streets. In these cities, people fill the streets with a population of approximately 16,500,000 mainly speaking Spanish. While having one of the highest populations in South America, Chile is South America’s most prosperous nation economically.This encourages people to move to Chile not knowing about the deadly volcanoes and earthquakes.
Dangerous Tectonic Activity
Chile is located along the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Pacific Ring of Fire is the most dangerous area that causes volcanoes and earthquakes. About 90% of the whole World’s earthquakes and volcanoes occur along the ring. The three plates that form Chile are the South American Plate, Nazca Plate, and the Antarctic Plate which are convergent. Convergent is the most dangerous type of plate boundary known in the World causing volcanoes and earthquakes. They can cause earthquakes and volcanoes because these two plates compress. The compression of the two plates causes pressure to build up making volcanoes erupt and shock waves to start earthquakes. These three convergent plates make Chile a very active location for dangerous earthquakes and volcanoes.
Murder Was The Game
Chile has experienced many very violent volcanoes and earthquakes averaging 8.8 each time. These earthquakes usually erupt every decade or so. This results in less frequent volcanoes, but way more violent. Along with the volcanoes, earthquakes cause much destruction to Chile. Located in Chile was historically the largest earthquake on Earth. The earthquake was rated an 8.8 magnitude. While being rated an 8.8, 61 people died and 550 dollars in damage destructed Chile. This was just one earthquake in one year, there are many more each year causing just as much damage. All these facts make Chile one of the most dangerous places in the World.
Seattle, Washington
Location
Located on the North West coast of North America, Seattle, Washington is known to have the Microsoft headquarters and the world’s largest Starbucks coffee chain in the world. Seattle is a very wonderful places the climate is cool and wet. Seattle has 35.9 inches out of 36.5 for the US and also Seattle has a higher comfort index. Comfort index recognizes the impact that the weather has on people. Seattle is a small city but it has all the activities associated with a major city.
Plate Boundaries
Seattle sits right on a plate boundary between the Juan De Fuca Plate and the North American Plate. Scientist recently discovered a new shadow fault right underneath the city of Seattle, Washington. The people of Seattle experience earthquakes all the time, but are not felt by people. Being right in between two plates and being right on a fault line witch possibly means that there could be even more activity in the area.
Risk
In conclusion Seattle has it downs like high gas, and high crime rate. Seattle is also in risk of earthquakes and the prediction of a major earthquake following the Japan and Chile earthquakes. Scientist predicts that there is a 40 percent chance of having a mega earthquake in the next thirty years.
Tokyo, Japan
Located in the southeastern side of Japan, is a city called Tokyo. Tokyo has a population a little over 13,200,000 residents living there. This city is one of the world’s largest populated cities and also one of the most high-tech in the world. With all of the tall skyscraper and buildings in Tokyo, earthquakes are to be aware of.
Tokyo is located on the Eurasian tectonic plate boundary. The Eurasian plate extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Including Europe, mainland Asia except the Indian subcontinent, and Japan and Indonesia. This plate is a convergent, this means that the two plate boundaries collide together. When they collide, one of the plates slips under the other. As a result of the pressure and friction, volcanoes and earthquakes are common near convergent boundaries.
With around 1,500 earthquakes per year in Japan, Tokyo feels very faint earthquakes. About one small faint earthquake every couple days, but no one notices it. The highest recorded earthquake topping at a 7.9 magnitude near Tokyo was in 1923 when the earthquake known as “The Great Kanato Earthquake” killing about 180,000 people. This caused major damage costing around 15 million dollars. Japan has a high percentage of earthquakes therefore saying that Tokyo may not be the safest place to live.
Sumatra, Southern Asia
Geography
Sumatra is an Indonesian country bordering the Indian Ocean and is located near the much smaller, connected countries of Malaysia and Thailand. Since Sumatra resides near the equator, it bears a naturally tropical climate with temperatures around 70-86 degrees. Weather can vary from hot and humid days, to unrelenting downpours of rain. Many tourists travel to Sumatra to see the many attractions set out for them, but overall, it can be a very dangerous place for the average person to live.
Dangers
With the biggest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded lying just below the Indo-Australian plate’s belt, Sumatra is pegged a rather dangerous place on terms of unprecedented earthquakes. The Indo-Australian tectonic plate is categorized as divergent, meaning that the two plates that make up this boundary are constantly pulling and stretching away from each other. Scientists concluded that the earthquake that had occurred in the April of 2012 had major aftershocks that were, in fact, felt from all around the world. This earthquake’s magnitude reached a whopping 8.7, and because of this earthquake, the Indo-Australian Plate has now slowly begun to split into two separate parts. It not only endangers those of Sumatra, but also any other countries that reside on this plate.
Overall
In all, Sumatra has 34 volcanoes that lead directly down the country in a slightly curved line. Many of these volcanoes are active, while others have been labeled as “super volcanoes”, which are volcanoes that tend to have the largest eruptions. This leaves Sumatra at a pretty tricky position, where it has both brutal earthquakes and dormant volcanoes that could erupt in the near future. After the earthquake in 2012, the aftershocks caused both landslides and a tsunami, spreading the effects of the quake to 14 different countries. It took an estimated two billion dollars to repair all of the damage caused by this massive obstruction. Altogether, the small country of Sumatra is, in fact, one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Conlcusion
Cites
Chile
"http://www.nationsonline.org/ http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld ..." 2007. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.nationsonline.org/urllist.txt>
"Historic Earthquakes - Earthquake Hazards Program - USGS." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1960_05_22_articles.php>
"Volcano eruption news and activity updates ... - VolcanoDiscovery." 2010. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/news/chile_argentina.html>
Sumatra
"Sumatra's volcanoes (Indonesia) - VolcanoDiscovery." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/indonesia/sumatra.html>
"BBC News - April Sumatra quakes signal Indian ocean plate break-up." 2012. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19732681>
"Indo-Australian Plate Splitting." 2012. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.voanews.com/content/scientists-say-indo-australian-plate-splitting-in-two/1517953.html>
Tokyo, Japan
"Convergent boundary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2004. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_boundary>
"How Shifting Plates Caused the Japan Earthquake - Interactive ..." 2011. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/11/world/asia/maps-of-earthquake-and-tsunami-damage-in-japan.html>
"Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami: How They Happened | PBS ..." 2011. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/03/japans-earthquake-and-tsunami-how-they-happened.html>
Seattle, Washington
"New study finds Seattle in danger from a massive earthquake | MNN ..." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/new-study-finds-seattle-in-danger-from-a-massive>
"Seattle Tourism and Vacations: 428 Things to Do in Seattle, WA ..." 2002. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g60878-Seattle_Washington-Vacations.html>
"The Seattle Times | News, sports, weather, events in the Northwest." 25 Feb. 2013 <http://seattletimes.com/>