April 18 1906 California San Andreas
Fault
snaps shaking San Francisco for nearly
60 terrifying seconds when the trembling
stops the disaster is only beginning gas
lines rupture setting off massive fires
some seven hundred people died most of
city is reduced to ruins
this trembling of the ground caused when
masses of rock suddenly shift below the
earth’s surface is called an earthquake
hundreds of little earthquakes shake the
planet every day but most pass unnoticed
they usually occur along the boundaries
of the thin plates that cover the earth
like an eggshell driven by the heat deep
within the Earth’s core the plates grind
against each other along lines called
faults when the plates motion is blocked
stress builds up finally the fault gives
way the released energy races through
the earth in the form of seismic waves
scientists record these waves on a
device called a seismograph these zigzag
lines show the strength of various
seismic waves using the line scientists
grade earthquakes on the Richter scale
for a quick to measure one number higher
on the Richter scale
it must release about 30 times as much
energy as the number below it
every year about a hundred thousand
earthquakes Rumble through the ground
hard enough for people to feel them of
these only about a thousand are strong
enough to damage property but a powerful
earthquake can be devastating on average
about 10,000 people die each year as a
result of earthquakes
the greatest recorded earthquake ever to
hit North America measured a massive 9.2
the tremor struck Alaska
on March 28 1964 a camera on board a
ship docked in Valdez recorded the
draining of the entire harbor as a chasm
opened up on the seafloor
there’s no stopping the surface of the
earth from changing and moving so
engineers are focusing on ways to create
better buildings highways and bridges
and structures that will remain safe and
stay in one piece the next time the
earth begins to shape
Fault
snaps shaking San Francisco for nearly
60 terrifying seconds when the trembling
stops the disaster is only beginning gas
lines rupture setting off massive fires
some seven hundred people died most of
city is reduced to ruins
this trembling of the ground caused when
masses of rock suddenly shift below the
earth’s surface is called an earthquake
hundreds of little earthquakes shake the
planet every day but most pass unnoticed
they usually occur along the boundaries
of the thin plates that cover the earth
like an eggshell driven by the heat deep
within the Earth’s core the plates grind
against each other along lines called
faults when the plates motion is blocked
stress builds up finally the fault gives
way the released energy races through
the earth in the form of seismic waves
scientists record these waves on a
device called a seismograph these zigzag
lines show the strength of various
seismic waves using the line scientists
grade earthquakes on the Richter scale
for a quick to measure one number higher
on the Richter scale
it must release about 30 times as much
energy as the number below it
every year about a hundred thousand
earthquakes Rumble through the ground
hard enough for people to feel them of
these only about a thousand are strong
enough to damage property but a powerful
earthquake can be devastating on average
about 10,000 people die each year as a
result of earthquakes
the greatest recorded earthquake ever to
hit North America measured a massive 9.2
the tremor struck Alaska
on March 28 1964 a camera on board a
ship docked in Valdez recorded the
draining of the entire harbor as a chasm
opened up on the seafloor
there’s no stopping the surface of the
earth from changing and moving so
engineers are focusing on ways to create
better buildings highways and bridges
and structures that will remain safe and
stay in one piece the next time the
earth begins to shape
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