A Case Study: Afghanistan Earthquake, 1998

Right now, plate tectonic is probably moving beneath you. Each and every day there‘s movements of plate tectonics within the Earth, but the size of the movements are so small that we couldn’t feel it. Thousand of calm Earth movements occur each year, but once in a while, there is going to be this one movement that would create a significant earthquake resulting of deaths, damages to the environment and property. Plate tectonics can move away from each other, towards each other and sliding past each other. These movements are caused by the convection currents in the Earth’s mantle. (The New Wider World)


"ARC Science Plate Tectonics and Paleo Animation"

"Funny cartoon"

Afghanistan is a country in the middle-east, which has a size similar to Texas. Its position lies on a collision plate boundary where the Iranian and Eurasian Plates encounter. Both the Iranian and Eurasian Plates contain continental crust, resulting of the crust unable to be sink or destroy. So this factor has caused the rocks between the two plates to force up. The collision has been ongoing for fifty million years and it has form high mountains like the Hindu Kush which has a height above 7600 m. Within this area, a lot of earthquakes has happen, and often are destructive earthquakes. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake, The New Wider World)

"Causes of Earthquakes in Afghanistan"

It is not surprising that Afghanistan has experienced many earthquakes, but the two earthquakes that hit Afghanistan in the same year in 1998 were huge and devastating. The two earthquakes occurred in the same region, at the foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountain. Afghanistan was already overwhelmed by civil war, and now they have to face two huge earthquakes. It was a dark period for Afghanistan. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake)

"Epicentre of the Two Earthquakes"

On February 4, 1998, at local time 19:37 on Wednesday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 measured by the Richter scale hit the province of Takhar, in the city of Rustaq (250 km north of the capital Kabul). The area was so remote, and communications and transportations were so defective that it took three days for the news to get to Kabul. On February 7, the news of the earthquake finally reached Kabul. At least 2,323 people were killed, 818 injured, 8,094 houses destroyed and 6,725 livestock were killed. Homes were mainly destroyed by the result of the landslides. They were many strong aftershocks and one of them occurred on February 8. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake, Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-04: 10-Feb-98, USGS Earthquake Information for 1998 )


Just four months later, on May 30, 1998, daytime, at 10:52 local time, another earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 measured by the Richter scale hit the same location as the February 4 earthquake. Unfortunately, this earthquake has caused more than 4,000 deaths, twice as much as the earthquake before. There are many thousands of injuries and people who are homeless, and over 30 villages were destroyed completely and another 70 were severely damaged. This earthquake is said to be the deadliest in 1998. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake, Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-01: 30-May-98, USGS Earthquake Information for 1998 )

"Damages from Earthquake"

Afghanistan is a poor developing country that had to face such a tragic natural disaster. Earthquake that occurs in LEDCs (the less economically developed countries) like Afghanistan tends to have more deaths and damages compared to MEDCs (the more economically developed countries). Why is this?

• The houses that were built weren’t designed to endure earthquakes, and most of it is built of mud brick with low foundation. Many villages were built on the unstable mountain slope and it’s easy to be destroyed by mudslides. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

• The area was so remote that it took the news three days to reach Kabul and later to reach the outside world. There were no telecommunications and many transportations routes were destroyed. Resulting of not being able to evacuate the people out of the area quickly, and a lot have died form injuries because of lack of medical treatment. And the aftershock that happened three days also killed more than 250 people. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

• Aids were slow to be reached into the remote area, because there are no airstrips, and only helicopters are able to reach the remote area. But then there were only three small United Nations helicopters, which also aren’t capable of carrying a lot of things. And the rescuers had to dig out the people under the collapse structure and under the mud with bare hands. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

• There were a lot of international aids after the first earthquake and the second earthquake. United Nations, USA, France, the UK, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, Russia and other countries contributed helps but they were too late, because affected areas weren’t able to be reached and transportation was inefficient. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

The United Nations introduced the Human Development Index in 1991, which are used to calculate the quality of life between countries, and Afghanistan was ranked at 171 out of 173 countries. After the disasters, Afghanistan still suffer from the affects of the two earthquakes, a number of years with severe drought, 9/11 terrorist attack on USA which resulted a war with Afghanistan. Afghanistan is currently so poor, having no money or technology to predict earthquakes and they have to rely on international aids. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, The New Wider World)

Why do the Afghans live in these hazard prone areas? Basically, the Afghans that live in these remote areas are so poor that they are unable to move. Life for them is already hard, and they couldn’t afford to move and have a new home and a new life. The opportunities for them to find a job in the urban city are so little that it’s hopeless. Only well-educated and English-speaking people have the chances of migrating to other countries, for instance the USA. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, The New Wider World, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

Bibliography

Video:

1. "Science on a Sphere: Plate Tectonics and Paleo Animation." YouTube. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft-dP2D7QM4&feature=related.

Pictures:

1. Dinosaur
"A Shirt For Mo ." Fickr. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.flickr.com/photos/libbynix/1993174054/.

2.Causes of Earthquake in Afghanistan
The New Wider World. 2. Cheltenham: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 2003.

3. Epicentre of the Two Earthquakes
"Physical Geography and People." Google Book Search. 2 Dec 2007 http://books.google.com/books?id=pwfcyNE2Lz4C&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=a+case+study+afghanistan+earthquake+1998&source=web&ots=eChJTsAAdu&sig=y71Tz303Yhz-ZTN3yNghRcrRKWo#PPA14,M1.

4. Scale
"The San Marino Scale ." International Academy of Astronautics . 2 Dec 2007 http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/smiscale.htm.

5. Earthquake Aftermath
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

6. Damage
"Physical Geography and People." Google Book Search. 2 Dec 2007 http://books.google.com/books?id=pwfcyNE2Lz4C&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=a+case+study+afghanistan+earthquake+1998&source=web&ots=eChJTsAAdu&sig=y71Tz303Yhz-ZTN3yNghRcrRKWo#PPA14,M1.


7. Landslide
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

8. Helicopter
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

9. Relief
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

10. Local
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

Text:

1. Ambraseys, Nicholas. "Earthquakes in Afghanistan." Dept. of Civil Engineering. 2 Dec 2007 http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/Afghan.pdf.

2.Wheeler, Russell. "Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan." USGS. 2 Dec 2007 http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1264/pdf/OFR-1264.pdf.

3.The New Wider World. 2. Cheltenham: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 2003.

4."Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

5."Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-04: 10-Feb-98." Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . 2 Dec 2007 http://iys.cidi.org/disaster/98a/0025.html.

6."Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-01: 30-May-98." Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . 2 Dec 2007 http://iys.cidi.org/disaster/98a/0094.html.

7."Earthquake Information for 1998 ." USGS. 2 Dec 2007 http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/1998/.