RESEARCH

What should we do in the event of an earthquake?


 * ==== **DROP** to the ground; take **COVER** by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and **HOLD ON** until the shaking stops. If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building. ====
 * Stay away from glass, windows, outside doors and walls, and anything that could fall, such as lighting fixtures or furniture.
 * Stay in bed if you are there when the earthquake strikes. Hold on and protect your head with a pillow, unless you are under a heavy light fixture that could fall. In that case, move to the nearest safe place.
 * Use a doorway for shelter only if it is in close proximity to you and if you know it is a strongly supported, loadbearing doorway.
 * Stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a different location inside the building or try to leave.
 * Be aware that the electricity may go out or the sprinkler systems or fire alarms may turn on.
 * ==== DO NOT use the elevators. ====

Is Missouri on a fault line?
 * Yes, Missouri sits on the New Madrid fault line. It is located in the southern part of Missouri and goes through five states.


 * CLICK HERE FOR HOLLY'S WORKS CITED PAGE!**


 * Ways to help buildings during Earthquakes:**
 * Mass damper: a weight that is placed in the roof of a building. Motion sensors detect building movement during an earthquake which sends messages to a computer. Then he computer signals controls that counteract the buildings movement
 * Steel Cross Braces: placed between floors. They counteract pressure that pushes and pulls at the side of a building during and earthquake.
 * Flexible pipes: Help prevent water and gas lines from breaking. They can twist and bend without breaking during an earthquake.
 * Base isolators: Act as shock absorbers. Made of rubber and steel. Prevent seismic waves from traveling through the building.
 * Active tendon system: works like a mass damper system in the roof. Sensors notify a computer that the building is moving and the computer moves the building counteracting it.

Ways Japan Prepares for Earthquakes:


 * Info from: []
 * New buildings are designed to withstand the strongest tremors. The army and emergency services go through elaborate drills every year.
 * Japan's National Disaster Prevention day; This year a million people took part in the exercise. The reason they take it so seriously is that earthquakes occur all the time in this geologically unstable country - and the capital city is well overdue for a big one.
 * Info from: []
 * In cities, buildings are fortified with elaborate systems of hydraulic cylinders; in coastal towns, many homes are networked with fire detector-like devices that sound an alarm in case of an earthquake. Despite the damage, 145 of Japan's 170 emergency response hospitals are still online, as are 2,050 evacuation centers.
 * To achieve this feat, Japan drew heavily upon two resources it has in abundance: money and good governance. From the soldiers trained as health workers, to the civilian hospitals equipped for instant conversion into emergency response centers, to the elementary schools that double as drilling yards, it's difficult to find an aspect of Japanese public life that the state does not exploit to better prepare Japan for earthquakes and tsunamis.
 * Info from: []
 * Building codes as strict as they are expensive, emergency drills and education for as many of Japan's 127 million citizens as possible, and a vast network of response centers and workers ready to spring into action in a few minutes notice
 * In cities, buildings are fortified with elaborate systems of hydraulic cylinders; in coastal towns, many homes are networked with fire detector-like devices that sound an alarm in case of an earthquake.
 * **Companies need to decide what their threshold is, and decide what risk management techniques they're willing to invest in, be it insurance, arrangements for alternate suppliers, hedging, etc. -- and these decisions need to be made at the board level, and work their way down.**

Basic Information that you should know:
 * Tectonic plates are slabs of the lithosphere layer [[image:webkit-fake-url://86ABEAC7-BA37-4D85-8AF5-EE41CAD556C0/application.pdf width="140" height="100" align="left"]]
 * The Earth is layered (Image from [|http://www.uvm.edu/~inquiryb/webquest/fa05/lkenney])
 * There are three types of boundaries
 * 1. Convergant ><--
 * 2. Divergant <-- --->
 * 3.Transform are sliding past each other
 * A subduction zone happens when continental crust and oceanic crust run into each other, this can cause volcanos
 * when two continental crusts run into each other mountains are formed
 * then plates slide along past each other it can cause powerful earthquakes because the edges of the plates can grind and lock together and then when they shift into new positions is when the earthquake happens.
 * The plates move because of convection currents of the magma in the mantle
 * The mantle is the only liquid layer of the earth.
 * The continents were all put together at one point. The land mass was called a Pangaea.
 * Here is a video about convergent, divergent and transform boundaries: media type="youtube" key="dkELENdZukI" height="390" width="480" to watch this video click on the youtube and click edit widget and then click preview! This video shows what happens when boundaries converge, diverge and transform!!

Here is a website all about plate tectonics! []

Here is a tutorial that has the information all about plate tectonics: [] ALL INFO BELOW IS FROM THE WEBSITE! []

Mountains:What happens when two continental plates collide? Because the rock making up continental plates is generally lighter and less dense than oceanic rock, it is too light to get pulled under the earth and turned into magma. Instead, a collision between two continental plates crunches and folds the rock at the boundary, lifting it up and leading to the formation of mountains and mountain ranges.

Volcanoes and subduction zones: At some convergent boundaries, an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate. Oceanic crust tends to be denser and thinner than continental crust, so the denser oceanic crust gets bent and pulled under, or subducted, beneath the lighter and thicker continental crust. This forms what is called a **subduction zone**. As the oceanic crust sinks, a deep oceanic **trench**, or valley, is formed at the edge of the continent. The crust continues to be forced deeper into the earth, where high heat and pressure cause trapped water and other gasses to be released from it. This, in turn, makes the base of the crust melt, forming **magma**.

Island Arcs:A subduction zone is also generated when two oceanic plates collide — the older plate is forced under the younger one — and it leads to the formation of chains of volcanic islands known as**island arcs**. Examples include the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean and the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska.

 Since the collision and subduction of plates is not a smooth process, large, powerful earthquakes are another phenomenon that result from this type of interaction. Earthquakes generated in a subduction zone can also give rise to tsunamis. A**tsunami** is a huge ocean wave caused by a sudden shift on the ocean floor, such as an undersea earthquake. If the wave reaches land, it can cause incredible destruction, like the Asian Tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 people in 11 countries across the Indian Ocean region in December 2004.

Sea Floor Spreading and Rifts: Divergent boundaries in the middle of the ocean contribute to **seafloor spreading**. As plates made of oceanic crust pull apart, a crack in the ocean floor appears. Magma then oozes up from the mantle to fill in the space between the plates, forming a raised ridge called a **mid-ocean ridge**. The magma also spreads outward, forming new ocean floor and new oceanic crust. When two continental plates diverge, a valleylike rift develops. This **rift** is a dropped zone where the plates are pulling apart. As the crust widens and thins, valleys form in and around the area, as do volcanoes, which may become increasingly active. Early in the rift formation, streams and rivers flow into the low valleys and long, narrow lakes can be created. Eventually, the widening crust along the boundary may become thin enough that a piece of the continent breaks off, forming a new tectonic plate. At this point, water from the ocean will rush in, forming a new sea or ocean basin in the rift zone.

Transform boundaries: At transform boundaries, tectonic plates are not moving directly toward or directly away from each other. Instead, two tectonic plates grind past each other in a horizontal direction. This kind of boundary results in a **fault** — a crack or fracture in the earth's crust that is associated with this movement.

 **Faults and Earthquakes**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> Transform boundaries and the resulting faults produce many earthquakes because edges of tectonic plates are jagged rather than smooth. As the plates grind past each other, the jagged edges strike each other, catch, and stick, "locking" the plates in place for a time. Because the plates are locked together without moving, a lot of stress builds up at the fault line. This stress is released in quick bursts when the plates suddenly slip into new positions. The sudden movement is what we feel as the shaking and trembling of an **earthquake**. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">The motion of the plates at a transform boundary has given this type of fault another name — a **strike-slip fault**. The best-studied strike-slip fault is the San Andreas Fault in California. It is located at the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates and runs roughly 800 miles (1,300 km) through Northern and Southern California. As the two plates grind past each other — the Pacific Plate moving northwest and the North American Plate moving southeast — the motion produces numerous earthquakes along the fault. While many are small and cause only minor trembling, the San Andreas Fault has also been the site of major events: the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Many scientists believe that the San Andreas Fault is due to unleash another large earthquake — a "big one" — in the coming decades.[]

__//**Missouri Awarness and PLANS**//__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">[] A major earthquake centered in the New Madrid seismic zone potentially is one of the most serious natural hazard threats facing the state of Missouri. Experts mostly agree that it is not a matter of if a significant earthquake occurring, but rather it is a matter of how soon one will happen. SEMA has developed a multifaceted earthquake program designed to carry out earthquake awareness and preparedness programs; Work with partners to promote earthquake loss-reduction plans, practices and policies that encourage earthquake mitigation; And develop better response and recovery capabilities through participation in earthquake training and exercises.

What Can Be Done to Protect Ourselves? Education, planning, proper building construction, and preparedness are proven means to minimize earthquake losses, deaths, and injuries. In recent memory, San Francisco and Armenia both experienced 6.0-7.1 magnitude quakes. San Francisco was prepared; Armenia was not. San Francisco suffered 67 deaths and less than $7 billion in property losses. Armenia had over 25,000 deaths and lost more than $20 billion. More recently, Alaska underwent a 7.9 earthquake. Losses were minimized in this event because the epicenter was in a remote location. Missouri and the Midwest are more prepared than Armenia, but only partly as prepared as San Francisco, and the epicenter is not likely to be in a totally isolated area.


 * When will a possible earthquake in Missouri occur:**
 * http://www.scchealth.org/docs/ems/docs/prepare/newmadrid.html**


 * What Missouri is Doing to Prepare citizens for Earthquakes**

[|The citizens living in the bootheel of missouri are at serious risk for a major earthquake due to the New Madrid Seismic Zone or NMSZ. Many groups such as the Missouri safety management agency are trying to get people aware of this by giving scientific info, mapping risks of the quake, and giving people info on earthquakes themselves.]