Factors affecting earthquake damage
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Diamond 9 Diagram
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Geology
Type of rock means the difference in impacts e.g Bedrock is much harder than soft rockand so the impacts, for example on buildings will be greater
Population density
The more people there are in an area, the worse the impacts and losses as there are more people at risks and more infrastructure that has the potential to be damages
Level of development
The less developed a country is, the less likely it is to have the preparedness and measures in place to protect themselves from impacts
Soil type
Liquefaction can be an impact
Quality of building construction and design
The more earthquake proof the buildings are then the less likely they are to fall down, causing death and injury as well as economic loss
Time of disaster
If the earthquake occurs at night time, many people will be at home asleep and so will have less time to evacuate and have more chance of being injured as there will be a lot of people inside buildings
Depth of earthquake
The deeper the earthquake (epicentre) the lesser the impacts as the wave intensity decreases with distance
Strength of earthquake
The stronger the earthquake the, the higher the level of impact
Level of population preparedness
If a country/area is more prepared, then the potential risk is lessened as they may have time to evacuate or can help themeselves by knowing what to do during and after the earthquake has stuck