An earthquake awareness month document outlines key information about earthquakes including: 1) What are earthquakes, how they are caused by the sudden release of energy in fault lines, and how they are measured on various scales. 2) The main types of faults that cause earthquakes - normal, reverse, and strike-slip - and how each results in different types of surface displacement. 3) The potential effects of earthquakes like fires, soil liquefaction, landslides, tsunamis, flooding, and loss of life and property damage. Historical examples like the 1755 Lisbon earthquake are provided.

2. January 1- 30,
2016
EARTHQUAKEEARTHQUAKE
AWARENESS MONTHAWARENESS MONTH
Earthquake Safety: Don’t be
scared…..be prepared
District OfficerDervan
Dawes
Suppression
Westmoreland Division
JamaicaFireBrigade

3. Preface
The Jamaica Fire Brigade being the first respo nder to all
emergencies o n the island, must carry o ut regular training exercise
to mentally and physically prepare the o rganizatio n’ s firefighters to
dealwith any and every emergency that may arise.
The damage that may cause by an Earthquake willundo ubtedly
require all firefighters to have an understanding o f its effect and
ho w to effectively execute a respo nse.
It is also very impo rtant fo r firefighters to kno w ho w to care and
pro tect themselves and victims fro m the apparent hazards cause by
this natural pheno meno n while carrying o ut their duties.
Therefo re, let us no w lo o k at… ..

4. What is an Earthquake?
An Earthquake(EQ) istheshaking of the
surfaceof theearth resulting from thesudden
releaseof energy in theearth crust that creates
seismic waves
Earthquakecan beviolent enough to toss
peoplearound or so devastating to destroy a
wholecity.

5. EQ aremeasured using Seismometerand
variousscales. You havethe…
1. Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS)
2. RichterScale
3. Mercalli Scale
At theearth’ssurface, an EQ manifested itself by
shaking and most timescausedisplacement of the
ground, structural damage, landslideand volcanic
activity.
When itsepicenterislocated offshore, it may
trigger a tsunami.

6. Theword EQ ismostly usein general senseto
describetheshaking of theearth whether its
natural or man-made.
It ismostly causeby theraptureof a
geological faults and generatesseismic waves.
(Natural)
But also by eventssuch asmineblast and
nuclear test (Man-made)

7. Tectonic Earthquake
Thisisanatural occurring earthquake. This
happen anywherein theearth wherethereare
sufficient stored energy to fractureafault.
Most faultshaveirregular surfaces. When these
faultspast along each other, thefrictional
resistanceincreaseand lead to aform of stick-slip
behavior or “lock”.
Oncethefaultsare“lock”, relativemotion
continued leading to increasestressand therefore
strain energy arestorearound thefault surfaces.

8. Thiscontinued until thestresshasrisen
sufficiently to break from itsstick-slip
behavior, suddenly allowing sliding over the
“lock” portion of thefaultsand releasing the
stored energy.
Thisenergy releasecausesseismic waves,
frictional heat at thefaultssurfaceand
cracking of theearth (rock) thuscausing an
earthquake.

9. EarthquakeFaults
Therearethree(3) main typesof faults
1. Normal
2. Reverse(Thrust)
3. Strike-Slip
Normal and Reverseare
dip-slip.

10. Normal and Reverse(Thrust) faulting isthe
displacement of thefaultsin thedirection of a
dip and movement on them carried avertical
component.
Normal faultsoccur in area
when thereisacrust
extension creating a
divergent boundary.

11. Reverse(Thrust) fault occursin areawherethe
crust areshorten. Thesearethemost powerful
earthquakes. TheseEQ aremagnitude7 and
above.
Strike-Slip fault aresteep structurewherethey
slidepasseach other horizontally.
A fault movement of both Dip-Slip and Strike-
Slip isknown as….

12. OBLIQUESLIP

13. EarthquakeEffects
Theeffectsof EQ includebut arenot
limited to thefollowing

14. Fire
• Damageelectrical line
• Damagegaspipeline
• Damagewater main
Soil Liquefaction
• Saturated soil become
liquefied
• Building collapse
• Bridgestilt
• Other structuresink

15. Landslide and
Avalanche
• Slopeinstability
NB: A majorhazard
to firefighterwhen
carrying out rescue
operation
Tsunami
• Largevolumeof water
displacement
• Long and destructive
waves
• Travel at an average350
mileper hour

16. Flooding
• Water exceeding its
formation capacity
• Overflow of water reaching
land
This is as a result of an
earthquake damaging a
dam
Human Impact
• Lossof lifeor injuries
• Property damage
• Disease
• Lack of basic necessity
• Mental consequences
(depression, anxiety, panic)

17. Lisbon, Portugal in 1755
Hit by an EARTHQUAKE causing aTsunami, Fires, Collapse
Buildingsand Lossof Lives

18. Glossary
• Seismic Wave – wavesof energy that travel
through Earth’slayers
• Mo ment Magnitude Scale (MMS) –
Measurement of an earthquakeby theamount
of energy release.
• Richter MagnitudeScale– assigned a
magnitudenumber to quantify theenergy
releaseby an earthquake.

19. Glossary
• Mercalli Scale – measuretheintensity and
effect of an earthquakeon theearth surface
• Epicentre – thepoint on theearth’ssurface
that isdirectly abovethehypocentreor focus
• Hypo cetre – originated point of an earthquake,
wherethefirst strain energy release.

20. Glossary
• Fault – planar fracture(discontinuity in a
volumeof rock. Significant displacement of
rock massmovement)
• Seismometer – aunit that measurethemotion
of theground generated by and earthquake.

21. Next Topic
THANKYOU
Preparedness
And
Protection