The Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan - Research Paper Example

25th August, The Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan: Introduction: On 13th May, 2008, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richert scale hit China in the province of Sichuan resulting into the destruction of about 80% of the buildings in the vicinity of the epicenter and causing more than 10,000 casualties with millions left homeless. (Hooker and Yardley, 2008, para. 1-2). This earthquake is commonly referred to as the Wenchuan earthquake. It was by far, the most disastrous earthquake in China after the one that was experienced in 1976 in the city of Tangshan. Within seconds, the earthquake destroyed the province’s infrastructure. Telecommunication towers fell and a number of landslides followed the incident with hundreds of students and children trapped in their schools. “Two chemical factories in Shifang were destroyed, spilling 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia, officials told Chinese state media.” (Hooker and Yardley, 2008, para. 4). Nature showed up its worst against mankind and the country incurred huge losses of life and economy as a result of the act of nature. What remains to be explored is whether nature has been unfriendly towards humanity or there is some personal involvement of humans in bringing about such harshness in the attitude of nature towards it. Nature itself issues warning signs to man before the arrival of disasters. It is man who has been more often than not ignorant. The ignorance shown by man often leads to disastrous consequences. This paper aims at evaluating this statement in relation to a case study of the earthquake of Sinchuan. Literature analysis: Nature’s warning to man: (Smith, 2008) has described how nature tends to warn mankind of upcoming calamities in his paper titled “Rumor and the Sichuan Earthquake”. As the name of his report implies, Smith has explained how nature causes animals to exhibit warning signs to humans when they expect an earthquake, yet many of us fail to realize the gravity of the matter and ignore the statements of those who realize the matter considering them rumors. Nature tends to protect its inhabitants through natural processes and animals’ apparent curiosity is one of the wonders of nature meant to help out the humans. Days before the earthquake broke out in Sichuan, animals were noticed to behave in an awkwardly fashion. Animals belonging to various species were seen running away from the city. Referring to the history of cases when mankind has benefited from the predictions of animals, Smith explained how animals helped people evacuate the area when they sensed the earthquake in Liaoning, which broke out on the 4th of February in 1974. (Smith, 2008). Scientists wisely suggested the people to evacuate the land when they observed unusual change in animals’ behavior. The earthquake occurred in February and people started observing strangeness in the animals’ activities since December of the previous year. They saw dazed snakes and mice that apparently seemed to be frozen on the roads. More animals were noticed behaving awkwardly as February approached. Cows and horses were uncomfortable and appeared restless and domestic geese were observed to have flown away in large numbers. People realized the truth of the signs animals exhibited when an earthquake of a magnitude as high in magnitude as 7.3 on the Richert scale hit Haicheng in February, 1974. Smith has emphasized that nature always tends to protect humans against natural calamities one way or the other but humans are seldom reluctant to accept the offer. This is what happened in the case of earthquake that occurred in Sichuan. “Dajiyuan on the 13th of May in 2008 “published a photograph of thousands of toads crawling out of the Tongyang canal in Taizhou, faraway in Jiangsu province, crossing the Dongfeng bridge “in orderly fashion.” (Smith, 2008). Man-induced destruction of nature: Despite the nature’s unremarkable efforts to beware the mankind of the forthcoming disasters, man is usually not only ignorant but is more often than not, a key participant of the factors that usually become the fundamental cause of the occurrence of the disaster as argued by (Kerr and Stone, 2009) in their paper titled “A Human Trigger for the Great Quake of Sichuan?”. The researchers reached at this conclusion after conducting an in-depth analysis of the root causes of the earthquake that occurred in the province of Sichuan in 2008. Kerr and Stone argue that we associate natural disasters with God’s will but generally do not realize the potential ways in which humans contributed to the development of the conditions favoring the disaster. The earthquake of Sichuan had much to be related to the Zipingpu Dam that imposed unbearable stresses on the fault in the nearby land with the large volume of water it contained. This had happened in the past a number of times. “The first reported earthquake triggered by reservoir occurred in 1931 near the Marathon reservoir in Greece.” (Yong, 2009). It is principally the fault of the geologists, geotechnical engineers and the designers of the dam that did not place much emphasis on the faulty land in the very surroundings of the site chosen for the construction of the Zipingpu Dam. Any operation that meddles with the fundamental geometry of the earth might in some way be related to the earthquake. Such operations can be removal of rock in excavation, exploration of earth for extracting oil or other minerals, or increasing the weight and hence the pressure of large bodies of water contained in reservoirs. “In 1967, impoundment behind the Koyna Dam in India triggered the largest known reservoir-triggered quake, a magnitude-6.3 temblor that killed 200 people.” (Kerr and Stone, 2009). Water tends to cause the failure by counteracting the shear stresses that hold the opposite fault sides together. When investigated, the Zipingpu Dam was found to be as near as 500 meters from the location of the fault that was affected causing the earthquake in Sichuan. Kerr and Stone mentioned that the Zipingpu Dam started to fill up in 2004 and gained a height of 120 meters in a span of just 2 years. Inappropriate choice of the location of dams has historically been one of many ways in which man has unintentionally invited natural calamities. Hence, it is imperative that the existing geology of the location is critically analyzed before construction of large water reservoirs or other massive structures. The findings of Kerr and Stone were further validated by the arguments of (Moore, 2009) whose report was published in the Telegraph News. Moore also quoted the statement of Fan Xiao who is the chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in Chengdu who based his argument upon the past cases in which man made dams have disturbed the geological stability causing earthquakes and reiterated that the tremendous filling up of the Zipingpu Dam since 2004 might have led to the event of occurrence of earthquake in Sinchau in 2008. Fan also confirmed that the government had been proactively warned by the scientists of the potential dangers of constructing many dams in an earthquake prone area but the recommendations went unattended. This was a big irresponsibility on the part of the government. “The effect was "25 times more" than a years worth of natural stress from tectonic movement”. (Xiao cited in Moore, 2009, para. 10). Geologists have argued that an earthquake as large in magnitude as that experienced in Sinchau was totally unexpected and was not experienced in the vast history of the Province. Such an earthquake unexpectedly high in magnitude can only be the result of the interference of the water pressure with the equilibrium of the fault. Nature’s revenge: (LaFraniere, 2009) reported in the “New York Times” that after 9 months of the incident, some 80, 000 people were died or got lost as a result of the irrational choice of the Zipingpu’s location made 4 years before the occurrence of earthquake. The government has been quite reluctant about passing the statistical data relevant to the incident over to the researchers or the investigators principally because the construction of the Zipingpu Dam was a government project and the scientific declaration of the dam’s association with the causes of the occurrence of earthquake could be quite detrimental to the political stability of the government. Having realized this, the public in general is quite outraged and highly sensitive about all such proceedings of the government that might affect them adversely in any way. The Chinese research director at the Brookings Institution, Cheng Li stated that if the public discovered that the earthquake in Sinchau “was related to a man-made situation and not just a natural disaster, the government will be very uncomfortable with that kind of report because of the whole issue of government accountability”. (Li cited in LaFraniere, 2009, para. 8). The high amount of confidence scientists have in relating the Zipingpu Dam to the Sinchau earthquake speaks of the irresponsible attitude of the planners and developers that meddles with the nature in irrational ways leading to circumstances unfavorable for the mankind. The ever growing body of literature provides evidence that man has meddled with the nature in a wrong way many times in the history. “The human production of earthquakes is hardly supervillain-worthy. It’s downright commonplace: Klose estimates that 25 percent of Britain’s recorded seismic events were caused by people.” (Madrigal, 2008, para. 4). Madrigal refers to the movie Superman to criticize the supervillain’s attempt to bring about an earthquake in the San Andreas Fault by detonating nuclear weapons saying that the character could have achieved his objectives much more easily merely by digging deep into the earth for coal or by injecting liquids into the earth. Madrigal has indirectly pointed towards the harmful effects of boring deep into the earth or cutting it for humanly purposes. Earth maintains an equilibrium between its layers and faults that is drastically disturbed by such acts of humans leading to such events as the earthquake of Sinchau. Madrigal mentioned that historically, man’s interference with the natural geological equilibrium has not led to the development of earthquakes of large scale and magnitude until recently, when the actions of man have been aided by machines and equipment that serve to produce an impact much greater in magnitude with an equally declining duration of impact. The resulting impulse is disastrous as experienced in the case of Sinchau. In his report, Madrigal has notified five potential ways in which man interferes with nature and the interference leads to the development of geological instability and hence, the occurrence of earthquakes. Those five humanistic activities are building a dam, injecting liquid into the earth, mining coal in tremendous amounts, drilling a gusher dry and the ever intensifying quest and curiosity to construct the world’s tallest skyscraper. Literature provides enough evidence of the relation of the five activities carried out by humans as notified by Madrigal to the development of natural hazards specially those related to earth. This also proves that man fundamentally relies on nature to fulfill his basic requirements by deriving innumerable minerals from the earth which are utilized in the making of several products and services of daily life. After-effects of the Wenchuan earthquake: Soon after the occurrence of the Wenchuan earthquake, mudslides were noticed in Zhouqu County in the province of Gansu that caused 1250 deaths and an even larger number of missing people. (Century Weekly Editorial, 2010, para. 2). While investigating the landslides, scientists counted the Sinchau earthquake as one of the five main causes of mud landsliding in the Zhouqu County. Besides, in this report, other potential causes of natural failures have been highlighted which include but are not limited to the increasing population and the developmental pressures associated with it. “We must acknowledge that human activity has damaged the natural ecosystem, turning the land increasingly fragile.” (Century Weekly Editorial, 2010, para. 17). Natural disasters are more often than not, a result of humanistic activities. But this should never encourage one to derive the conclusion that nothing can be done about it because such attitude causes one to accept the matter as such and not take precautionary measures to suppress the chances of the occurrence of natural accidents and their impact on human life. While the report suggests generic approaches towards earthquake management such as development of risk management plans and geological monitoring system, three actions have been recommended to be taken by the government of China in particular for effective management of natural risks. The first action which the Chinese government should take is to develop a mechanism to assess the forthcoming risks well ahead of time. Secondly, the government should place special emphasis on the scientific research and draw benefits from the conclusions derived while preparing the risk mitigation plans. Thirdly, the central government of China should dedicate major portion of sum to the Western regions which lag far behind the other regions of China in the area of risk management. In their research, stated that the geographical location of China expose it to various types of natural disasters generally and earthquakes particularly. Study of the Wenchuan earthquake in Sinchau suggests that measures need to be taken to adopt a proactive approach towards management of such natural calamities as the reactive approach can be quite costly and less fruitful. Although, the damages incurred as a result of the Sinchau earthquake have majorly been treated and the province’s infrastructure has been restored, yet a lot of effort needs to be put into developing an anti-seismic efforts on both national and international level “taking into account antiseismic norms in a more efficient way, better urban planning, programmes which integrate struggle against poverty, and also creating symbols and memorial places of the disaster.” (Hou, 2008, page 102). Conclusion: Nature is enriched with uncountable blessings for the mankind but we can only make best use of those by protecting nature itself so that our actions do not affect the nature and its stability adversely. For millions of years, man has fundamentally relied on the treasures of nature to fulfill his basic needs. Coal, oil, natural gas, gold, minerals and steel are only few of the innumerable materials that are derived from nature. But this is often done in an unwisely manner that serves to make drastic changes to the natural geological conditions causing the earth to undergo movements to regain the equilibrium disturbed by the actions of humans and the results are often not favorable for the life on earth in general and mankind in particular. This is exactly what happened in the case of the earthquake that occurred in Sichuan in 2008. The attempt to construct a large reservoir of water in an area subjected to severe stresses between the tectonic plates adversely meddled with the geography of the region causing the opposite sides of the fault to slip past each other resulting into the development of earthquake that took the life of millions of people and destroyed the fundamental structure of the province. “Earthquakes cause devastating loss of life and destruction of man-made structures such as buildings, roads, and dams.” (McDonald, p. 28). Works cited: Hooker, Jake and Yardley, Jim. “Powerful Quake Ravages China, Killing Thousands”. The New York Times. 13 May 2008. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. Hou, Laurent. “Earthquake Geopolitics in China: The Case Study of the 12th May 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake”. 16 June 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. Kerr, Richard A. and Stone, Richard. “A Human Trigger for the Great Quake of Sichuan?”. Journal of Science. VOL 323. 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. LaFraniere, Sharon. “Possible Link Between Dam and China Quake”. The New York Times. 5 Feb. 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. Madrigal, Alexis. “Top 5 Ways to Cause a Man-Made Earthquake”. Wired Science. 4 June 2008. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. McDonald, Roxanna. Introduction to natural and man-made disasters and their effects on buildings. Britain: Architectural Press. 2003. Print. Moore, Malcolm. “Chinese earthquake may have been man-made, say scientists”. Telegraph Media Group Limited 2010. 2 Feb. 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. “Nature, Fatalism and Future Disaster Response”. Century Weekly Editorial. 18 Aug. 2010. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. Smith, Steve. “Rumor and the Sichuan Earthquake”. The China Beat. 22 May 2008. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. Yong, Chen. “Did the reservoir impoundment trigger the Wenchuan earthquake?” Science in China Press. Vol. 52, no. 4. 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2010. doi: 10.1007/s11430-009-0067-2. Read More