Category Archives: Earthquake

Day_143 : World Disaster Chronology 1996-1997

Date Place Disaster Type Situations
1996.01- US, East Cold Wave Over 200(DM) Snowstorm
1996.02.17 Indonesia, East (Irian Jaya) Submarine Earthquake M8.1～8.2, 170(DM) Tsunami to Pulau Biak
1996.04- Mongolia Bush Fire The worst bush fire in Mongolia’s  history.
1996.05- Bangladesh Tornado 1,000-1,500(DM) One of the worst tornado disaster in the world
1996.05- Tanzania Strong Wind Over 500(DM)
1996.05- Pakistan Heat Wave Over100(D)
1996.06- China Heavy rain, Flood Over 220(DM), Landslide
1996.06- China, South Heavy rain, Flood Over 1,700(D)
1996.07- China Typhoon, Flood Over500(DM)
1996.07- India Heavy rain, Flood Over750(DM)
1996.07- North Korea Heavy rain, Flood DM(several hundred), Estimated large-scale starving caused by two years successive floods.
1996.07- Nepal Heavy rain, Flood Over210(DM)
1996.09- Japan Typhoon, Flood 11(D), Injured 70 ,Destroyed 900, Inundated over12,000
1996.11- India Cyclone, Flood Over 2,000(DM)
1996.12- Malaysia Typhoon, Flood 200(DM)
1997.01- Madagascar Cyclone, Flood 100(DM)
1997.02- Peru Heavy rain, Floods, and Landslides Over380(DM)
1997.02.28 Iran, Northwest Inland Earthquake M5.5-6.1, 965-1,100 (DM) *
1997.05.10 Iran, East Inland Earthquake M6.8-7.3, 1,600（DM)*
1997.05- Bangladesh Typhoon, Flood Over500(DM)
1997.06- China, Sichuan Heavy rain, Flood, and Landslide 140(DM)
1997.07.09 Venezuela Inland Earthquake M6.9、Over76(DM)
1997.07- Germany/Poland, North Heavy rain, Flood 110(DM) Oder river flooding
1997.08- Japan Heavy rain, Flood 5(D),Inundated Over 14,000
1997.08- China Typhoon, Flood 140(DM)
1997.08- India, North Heavy rain, Flood, and Landslide 130-280(DM)
1997.08- India Tidal wave 400(DM)
1997.09- Japan Typhoon, Flood 12(D), Destroyed approx.200, Inundated over 16,000
1997.09- Pakistan Heavy rain, Flood Over 140(DM), Lahore
1997.10- Mexico Hurricane, Flood Over 400(DM)
1997.10- Somalia Heavy rain, Flood Over 1,700(D)
1997.11- Ecuador Heavy rain, Flood Over 140(DM)
1997.12- Peru Heavy rain, Flood Over 300(D)
1997.12- Brazil and others Forest fire Amazon rainforest conflagration
1997.12- Zambia Heavy rain, Flood Over 200(DM)
1998.02.04 Afghanistan, Northeast Inland Earthquake M5.9-6.1,  2,300(DM)
1998.03- Pakistan Heavy rain, Flood Over300(DM)
1998.03- India Tornado Over 200(DM)
1998.05.31 Afghanistan, Northeast Inland Earthquake M6.6-6.9, 4,000-5,000(DM)
1998.05- India Heat Wave Over 3,000(D)
1998.05- Italy Heavy rain, Flood 180-300(DM)
1998.06- India Typhoon, Flood 1,000(DM)
1998.06- Nepal Heavy rain, Flood Over 110(DM)
1998.06- China Heavy rain, Flood Over 4,200(DM) Yangtze river and other rivers floods, over 200 million (affected)
1998.07- US, South Heat Wave Over 170(DM)
1998.07- India/Bangladesh Heavy rain, Flood Over 3,000(DM) Ganges River flood
1998.07- Uzbekistan Heavy rain, Flood Over 700(DM), a dam was collapsed
1998.07.17 New Guinea, North Submarine Earthquake New Guinea Earthquake and Tsunami M7.1  2,800(DM)
1998.08- South Korea Heavy rain, Flood 250-330(DM)
1998.08- Japan Heavy rain, Flood 25(DM), Destroyed approx.480, Inundation over 13,000
1998.09- Japan Typhoon, Flood 18(DM), Injured 570, Destroyed approx.21,000, Inundation over 8,600, Typhoon No.7,8
1998.09- Japan Typhoon, Flood 9(D), Destroyed approx.100, Inundation over 17,000, Typhoon No.9
1998.09- Japan Typhoon, Flood 14(DM), Injured 60, Destroyed approx.700, Inundation over 12,000, Typhoon No.10
1998.09- Haiti Dominica Typhoon, Flood Over 500(DM), Hurricane George
1998.09- Mexico Heavy rain, Flood Over 1,400(DM)
1998.10- Nicaragua Volcano Over 1,600(DM) Mudslide
1998.11- Thailand Typhoon, Flood 100(DM)
1998.11.29 Eastern Indonesia (Serum Sea) Submarine Earthquake M7.7-8.3  40(DM) Tsunami

* Iran has a lot of earthquake disasters. The below can be referred.

https://disasterresearchnotes.site/archives/2801

This world disaster chronology is a draft version.  It will be combined with other years and polished later.

Day_142 : World Disaster Chronology-1994-1995

 

Date Place Disaster Type Situations
1994.01.17 US, Southeastern Inland Earthquake 1994 Northridge earthquake *
M6.8, 60(D), one of the costliest natural disasters of US history
1994.02.15 Indonesia, West (Sumatra Island) Inland Earthquake M6.6～7.0, Over 200(DM)
1994.05- Bangladesh Cyclone Over 170 (DM)
1994.05.13 Afghanistan Inland Earthquake M6.0, Over160(DM)
1994.06- India / Pakistan Heat Wave Over 400 (D)
1994.06- Ethiopia Drought Over 5,000(D), Food shortage
1994.06- China, Central eastern Heavy Rain, Flood Over 700(DM), A part of Shanghai was inundated
1994.06.02 Indonesia, South (Java Island) Submarine Earthquake M7.8、死不270以上、津波。
1994.06.06 Colombia, South Inland Earthquake M6.6, 300-800(DM), Debris flow
1994.06.09 Bolivia, Peru Deep-focus Earthquake 1994 Bolivia earthquake M8.2 10(D)
1994.07- Rwanda Heat Wave Over 10,000(D), combined with Civil War
1994.08.18 Algeria, North Inland Earthquake M5.7, Over 150(DM)
1994.10.04 Japan, Kunashiri Island Submarine Earthquake The 1994 Hokkaido Toho Oki Earthquake M8.2-8.3, 15(DM), Tsunami
1994.11- India South Cyclone 190(DM)
1994.11.14 The Philippines Inland Earthquake M7.1 Over70(DM) Tsunami
1994.11- Italy Heavy Rain, Flood Over 60(DM)
1994.11- Egypt Lightning 560(DM) Lightning damage to Oil facilities
1994.11- Haiti, Cuba Hurricane, Flood Over 700(DM)
1995.01.17 Japan Inland Earthquake The 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake * M6.9～7.3 5,500～6,400（DM）
1995.03- Afghanistan Heavy Rain, Flood, Landslide Over 360(DM)
1995.04- Bangladesh Strong Wind 700(DM)
1995.05.27 Sakhalin, North Inland Earthquake The 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake,M7.1～7.5, Over 1,989(DM) Neftegorsk city was destroyed and vanished from the map after the disaster
1995.05- Brazil Heavy rain, Flood. Landslide Over 80(DM)
1995.05- China Heavy rain, Flood Over 1,100(DM), Yangtze river flood
1995.06- India, Pakistan Heat Wave Over 800(D)
1995.06- Japan Heavy rain, Flood 9(DM), Destroyed Approx.200, Inundated over15,000
1995.07- US Heat Wave Over 800(D)
1995.07- D.P.R.Korea Heavy rain, Flood Over 60(DM)
1995.07- Thailand Heavy rain, Flood Over 200(DM)
1995.08- Morocco Heavy rain, Flood Over 150(DM)
1995.9- The Philippines Heavy rain, Flood Over 540(DM)
1995.11- The Philippines Typhoon, Flood Over 780(DM)
1995.12-  Kazakhstan Cold Wave Over 100(DM) Snowstorm

D: The number of Death M: Missing number DM: The dead and missing number

https://disasterresearchnotes.site/archives/2831

Related articles across the web

Day_131 : Italy-Recent earthquake and past earthquake disasters (2)

CNN: (October 30)A powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked central Italy on Sunday morning, injuring at least 20 people, in the strongest tremor to hit the country in more than three decades. The earthquake follows tremors last week and comes on the heels of a devastating quake in August, which killed nearly 300 people and flattened entire villages.

Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) still does not list this earthquake situation.This earthquake is severer than this August Earthquake(Day_107). Earthquakes in Italy happened mostly central and southern part of Italy around the

http://disasters.weblike.jp/disasters/archives/3081

Natural disaster trends are usually from human sufferings to economic damage. In Italy, main natural disaster is the earthquake and follow the trends as you can confirm below.
However, recent earthquake disasters in Italy are so severe.  With this August earthquake, the number of casualties would be over 550. The disaster recovery is also the issue. As mentioned in Day_107, “Italy has a poor record of rebuilding after quakes. About 8,300 people who were forced to leave their houses after a deadly earthquake in L’Aquila in 2009 are still living in temporary accommodation(Reuters).”

Table 1 and Table 2 show the 1900-2016 top 10 deadliest and costliest disasters in Italy (EM-DAT).

Table 1  Totals deaths
Italy deadliest

Table 2  Total damage
Italy costliest disasters

Related articles across the web

Day_130 : Natural Disasters in China (2) – Two Earthquake Disasters

 

Two Earthquakes
Yang Zhang William Drake, et al. (2016)* indicates interesting views on two earthquakes disaster recoveries, the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The point is, why the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake recovery was so rapid compared to the 1976’s earthquake.
However, the paper could add more about the total background changes of China such as society, economy, and politics. The china has changed dramatically after the 1976 from historical viewpoints.

The Tangshan earthquake is one of the deadliest disasters in the world and the Wenchuan earthquake is one of the top ten costliest disasters in the world also. Munich Re ranked the Wenchuan as the top four costliest disaster after the Japanese Tsunami (2011), the Hurricane Katrina (2005). and the Kobe Earthquake (1995). The number of deaths caused by the Tangshan is still controversial because of the Chinese government’s political climates at the time.

A Comparison of the two earthquakes

tanchanwenchan
Yang Zhang William Drake, et al. (2016)

The Rapid Disaster Recovery after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake
Yang Zhang William Drake, et al. (2016) describes the following points, historical and socio-economic contexts, why the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake recovery was so rapid compared to the 1976’s earthquake.

[Historical context]

  1. The Chinese government drew lessons from its handling of the Tangshan earthquake recovery. The government emphasized the importance of planning for coordinated reconstruction.
  2. China had established a strong planning institution to support its rapid growth agenda since the economic reform began in the late 1970s. The contrast of recovery planning between the two earthquakes highlights the notion that a pre-existing planning institution and pre-existing policy documents that describe development visions for a disaster area.

[Socio-economic context]

  1. China’s ability to promptly fund the earthquake recovery was far superior in the 2000s. China’s annual GDP in the year prior to the Wenchuan earthquake was 3.494 trillion USD 2007, which was 22 times its GDP in 1975.
  2. The earthquake happened less than three months before the Beijing Olympic Games. It was in the government’s best interest to move swiftly with the response and recovery to ensure social stability for the Olympic Games.
  3. The global economic downturn of 2008 might have also played a role in speeding up the earthquake recovery. To stimulate the economy, heavy investment in the earthquake recovery became a convenient policy option.

However, many things can be added about the above points such as the acceptance of international aids (Day_95).

http://disasters.weblike.jp/disasters/archives/2971

 

This rapid recovery from Wenchuan reminds us the Japanese historical trends  from 1945 to 1959, especially after the Typhoon Isewan in 1959. The Haiti’s cases, 2010 Earthquake and 2016 Hurricane Matthew also can be found as the same analogy (The below related articles across the web).

The Meanings of the Lessons
We cannot experience the disasters so often, of course, we do not want to have disasters. This is why we should learn from the past disasters and this is what we can do all the time.

*Yang Zhang William Drake, et al. (2016) Disaster Recovery Planning after Two Catastrophes: The 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 34(2):174-203

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Day_126 : World Disaster Chronology-1989

The accuracy will be improved with citing some data sources.

Date Place Disaster Type Situations
1989.01 USSR, Central (Tajikistan） Inland Earthquake M5.3, Over 270(DM)
1989.04.20 China Hail Damage Over 150(DM)
1989.04.26 Bangladesh Tornado The Daulatpur–Saturia Bangladesh tornado*.1300(D)The deadliest tornado disaster in history. 
1989.05- Viet Nam Tropical Storm, Flood Over 740(DM), Tropical Storm Cecil
1989.05- Bangladesh Cyclone, Flood Over 200(DM)
1989.06- China Sichuan Torrential Rains, Flood Over 1,300(DM)
1989.06- Sri Lanka Torrential Rains, Flood 300-500(DM) 
1989.07- India Cyclone, Flood Over 2,700(DM)
1989.07- China Torrential Rains, Flood Over 1,500(DM)
1989.07- Bangladesh Torrential Rains, Flood Over 200(DM)
1989.07- Viet Nam Typhoon, Flood Over 200(DM)
1989.08.01 Iran, West Inland Earthquake M5.8, 120(DM)
1989.09- China Typhoon, Flood Over 520(DM)
1989.10.17 US, West (Calfornia) Inland Earthquake Loma Prieta earthquake **(M7.1) 62(DM), Damage cost 7bill.US

DM: The number of dead and missing.

*The Daulatpur–Saturia, Bangladesh tornado occurred in the Manikganj District, Bangladesh on April 26, 1989. There is great uncertainty about the death toll, but estimates indicate that it killed around 1,300 people, which would make it the deadliest tornado in history. The disasters in Bangladesh indicate natural disaster is not natural.                        Can refer Day_117.

http://disasters.weblike.jp/disasters/archives/3224

**The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred in Northern California on October 17 at 5:04 p.m. local time. This earthquake happened in the northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of the San Andreas Fault.The death toll was relatively not high compared to the economic damage. This can be explained with developed countries, especially US disasters characteristics.  Can refer to The Day_119.

http://disasters.weblike.jp/disasters/archives/3248

 

Related articles across the web

Day_114 : World Disaster Chronology-1980

 

Date Place Disaster Type Situations
1980.01- US, East Cold Wave 100 (DM)
1980.01- India, North Cold Wave 80 (DM) Bihar 
1980.04- Peru Heavy Rain, Flood 90 (DM)
1980.05- US, Northwestern Volcano  Mount St.Helens Volcanic Eruption*  80 (DM), A summit was disappeared by landslide and huge volcanic eruptions.
1980.06- India Heavy Rain, Flood Over 600 (DM)
1980 India Disease Over 550 (D)
1980.07- Japan Cool weather damage Damage cost was over 6,900 mil, yen
1980.07.28 Nepal Inland Earthquake M (not confirmed), 90(DM)
1980.08- Japan Heavy Rain, Flood 26 (DM),Injured 50, Destroyed 400, Inundation over 39,000
1980.08- US, East Heat Wave 1,000-1,300 (DM)
1980.08- India, East Heavy Rain, Flood Over 1,500 (DM)
1980.08- Haiti Storm, Flood 270 (DM)
1980.08- China Heavy Rain, Flood Unknown (DM)
1980 Bangladesh Heavy Rain, Flood Over 650 (DM)
1980.09- India, Southeastern Heavy Rain, Flood 200 (DM), Orrisa
1980.10.10 Algeria, Northwestern Inland Earthquake  M7.1-7.5, El Asnam Earthquake 2,600-5,000(DM)
1980.10- India Infectious disease Over 400 (D)
1980.10.24 Mexico, Central Inland Earthquake M (unknown), 65 (DM)
1980.11.23 Italy, South Inland Earthquake 1980 Irpinia earthquake** M6.9   2,500-4,700 (DM)
1980.12- Japan Heavy Snow 103 (DM), Injured over 1,300, Destroyed over 5,800, Inundation over5,500

D: Dead number DM: The dead and missing number

*St.Herens volcanic eruption

https://disasterresearchnotes.site/archives/2860

**1980 Irpinia earthquake

 

Day_111 : Earthquake Information (1)

Introduce you two earthquake information websites. 1) The Earthquake Track 2) J-RISQ

1) The Earthquake Track

The Earthquake Track is useful to overview the earthquake occurrence situation in the world (Figure 1). As you can see in the below figure, every day’s earthquake occurrence situation such as how many times the earthquake occurred, what is the biggest earthquake of the day, and the earthquake locations on the map can be seen. Also, we can access to the detailed information of the quakes.

160831_earthquakepic1
Figure 1  The Earthquake Track

2) J-RISQ

Figure 2 shows J-RISQ provided by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED).

160831_JRISQ1
Figure 2  J-RISQ website

As you can see the Figure 2, this site does not only provide earthquake (hazard) information but also affected population estimation (exposure). In addition, the site gives us historical information of the affected area. You can also refer prediction data on the map such as earthquake distribution of 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years and distribution of return period of 50,000-year.

Day_109 : Earthquake disasters in Thailand

The earthquake disaster is not so common in Thailand, therefore, that is why Thai people should consider the risk. They have a lack of experience.

The Earthquake Track is one of the useful websites to check the earthquakes in Thailand including neighboring countries. The recent earthquake can be confirmed
“Recent Earthquakes Near Thailand” site.

The below is a guide book for earthquake disaster reduction in Thai (especially for Thai people).
A Guide Book for Earthquake Disaster Reduction (Thai language)

There are some active faults in Thailand (Figure 1).

thai faultline
Figure 1 Active Fault Map in Thailand

We should know the BKK is one of the earthquake vulnerable areas because the
ground is not so firm.
A short essay about natural disaster risk mapping in Thailand was written as follows:

https://disasterresearchnotes.site/archives/2935

Day_108 : World Disaster Chronology-1978

The chronology will be improved little by little. This is the first draft version. The information source will be shown later. In addition, other some events will be explained.

Date Place Disaster Type Situations
1978.01- US, East Cold wave The dead and missing number is 160
1978.02- US Disease Influenza, the dead number is over 6,000
1978.04.16 India Tornado The dead and missing number is over 600
1978.06.12 Japan, Northeast Submarine Earthquake 1978 Miyagi ken Oki earthquake M7.4, The dead number is 28
1978.07- Bangladesh Heavy rain, Flood The dead and missing number is over 120
1978 Pakistan Heavy rain, Flood The dead and missing number is over100
1978.08- India Heavy rain, Flood The dead and missing number is 900-1,300
1978.09- Africa, East Disease The dead number is over 350
1978.09.16 Iran, Central Inland Earthquake 1978 Tabas earthquake*  M7.2-7.8, The dead and missing number is 18,000-25,000
1978.10- India Disease The dead number is over 480
1978.11- Sri Lanka, and others Typhoon, Flood The dead and missing is 1,500

*1978 Tabas Earthquake

The one of the most earthquake vulnerable countries in Asia is Iran. Iran had 16 times earthquakes in the 1800s  and 18 times earthquakes in the 1900s which caused over 1000 deaths. In particular, the one of the main causes of deaths is a building structure, called adobe.

Adobe is a kind of clay used as a building material, typically in the form of sun-dried bricks (Oxford dictionaries).

In dry climates, adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, but they are known to be particularly susceptible to earthquake damage if they are not somehow reinforced. Adobe are common throughout the world such as Middle East, West Asia, North Africa, West Africa, South America, southwestern North America, Spain, and Eastern Europe (Wikipedia).

“Adobe and earthquakes are a perverse and tragic combination”
 “The people on the street are killed by the walls that fall out, the people inside are killed by the roof that falls in”  says Mr Marcia Blondet (A Peruvian engineer). (BBC).

Day_106 : Myanmar-This week’s earthquake and the past trends

Myanmar had a huge earthquake (M6.8) on 24Aug2016.
The outline of the information can be checked by the ADRC website (Figure 1).

Myanmar Earthquake
Figure 1  Myammar Earthquake 24Aug2016 (ADRC)

“A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, killing at least three people and damaging nearly 200 pagodas in the famous ancient capital of Bagan. The quake was also felt across neighboring Thailand, India and Bangladesh, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets (AFP).”

Let’s check the disaster data.
The Figure 2 Figure 3 are the 1900-2016 top 10 deadliest and costliest disasters  in Myanmar (EM-DAT).

Myanmar death toll 2
Figure 2 Totalｓ Deaths (Top 10 deadliest natural disasters in Myanmar)

Myanmar economic damage 2
Figure 3 Total damage (Top 10 costliest natural disasters in Myanmar)

We can confirm how the 2008 Cyclone Nargis was influential.
Many natural disasters which have high total deaths numbers occurred before 2000 (7/10).  On the contrary, many high economic damage natural disasters hit after 1990 (8/10).  These facts support the following “disaster is from human suffering to economic damage with development process”.

The notes on the recent major events (ADRC) are as follows:

1) Cyclone Nargis (May 2008)
Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in May 2008 which killed 84,537, with the missing 53,836, injured    19,359. 450,000 houses were destroyed, with another 350,000 damaged. Total affected people     were 2.4 million. The total economic loss was US$ 4.1 billion (according to Post-Nargis Joint         Assessment- PONJA).

2) Indian Ocean Tsunami (December 2004)
Indian Ocean Tsunami occurred off the Sumatra Island on 26 December 2006 killed 61,                 injured 42, affected 2,592 and destroyed 601 houses in Myanmar.

*The numbers of deaths are not the same with different sources. This is the one of the most important challenges of disaster research.

We can especially consider the political conditions for understanding the 2008 Cyclone Nargis disaster exacerbations. During the disaster, the county had refused international aids.

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