GEOPHYSICS OF EARTHQUAKES

This is the final year seminar of Gauhar Kachchhi, under the guidance of Prof. S. K. Joshi Sir, compiled during the year 2006-07.

Geophysics is a branch of science that applies physical principles to the study of the earth. Study of Earthquake, or Seismology, is a sub-branch of Geophysics.

Earthquakes represent an enormous threat to the Nation. Although damaging earthquakes occur infrequently, their consequences can be staggering. As recent earthquakes around the world have demonstrated, high population densities and development pressures, particularly in urban areas, are increasingly vulnerable. Unacceptably high loss of life and enormous economic consequences are associated with recent global earthquakes, like the one in Kashmir in Jan 2006, when 80,000 people lost their lives, or the submarine earthquake of Banda Aceh of the 26th of December, 2004, in which the Tsunami killed more than 300,000 people in Asia and Africa.

It is very important to improve the understanding of earthquakes and their effects. A large number of earthquakes are felt all over the globe every year. The small ones are unnoticed while the large ones are felt over thousands of kilometers. The big quakes are not necessarily the most destructive. Earthquakes have damaged and destroyed man's work since time immemorial.

 Here, I have tried to explain the nature, distribution, causes and effects of this terrifying natural event.

Next: Natural Disasters

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