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Mahesh

12/04/24 06:23 AM IST

Massive earthquake hits Taiwan

In News
  • A huge earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter Scale struck Taiwan, making it one of the biggest Earthquakes in at least 25 years.
Causes of Earthquake in Taiwan
  • Taiwan is prone to earthquakes as it lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” — where 90% of the world’s earthquakes take place.
  • The Ring of Fire is the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur.
  • The area is particularly vulnerable to temblors due to the tension accumulated from the interactions of two tectonic plates, the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, which may lead to sudden releases in the form of earthquakes.
  • Taiwan’s mountainous landscape can magnify the ground shaking, leading to landslides.
  • Several such landslides occurred on Taiwan's eastern coast near the epicenter of when falling debris hit tunnels and highways, crushing vehicles and causing several deaths.
Ring of fire
  • The Ring of Fire is stretched to approximately 40,000 kilometres tracing boundaries between several tectonic plates including the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Indian-Australian, Nazca, American, and Philippine Plates.
  • The chain runs up along the western coast of South and North America, crosses over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, and runs down the eastern coast of Asia past New Zealand and into the northern coast of Antarctica.
  • There are several countries in the ring of fire like Indonesia, New Zealand, Papa New Guinea, Philippines, Japan, United States, Chile, Canada, Guatemala, Russia, Peru, Solomon Islands, Mexico and Antarctica.
Causes of Volcanic Activity:
  • Tectonic plates move towards each other creating subduction zones. One plate gets pushed down or is subducted by the other plate. This is a very slow process – a movement of just one or two inches per year.
  • As this subduction happens, rocks melt, become magma move to Earth’s surface and cause volcanic activity.
About Tsunami
  • Tsunami is a Japanese term meaning a harbour wave. It is also commonly known as killer waves.
  • A Tsunami is not just a single wave but a series of ocean waves called a wave train caused by an underwater earthquake, by a volcanic eruption, landslide, rapid changes in atmospheric pressure, or a meteorite.
  • However, tsunamis caused by volcanic activity are less frequent.
  • Most tsunamis–about 80%–happen within the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a geologically active area where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common.
  • Tsunamis race across the sea at up to 800 kilometres an hour. At that pace, they can cross the entire expanse of the Pacific Ocean in less than a day.
Source- Indian Express

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