San Francisco Earthquake Nepal Earthquake
Date October 17, 1989
Causes The major factor was the fact
that it was rush hour in San
Francisco. The San Francisco
fault ruptured bilaterally, that is
in two directions, from the
centre of the fault line, causing a
relatively short shock.
Location The earthquake hit the San
Francisco bay area in the USA
where it was a densely
populated area. The disaster is
known as the Loma Prieta
earthquake because it was
centred near Loma Prieta Peak
in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
There were also shocks that
occurred in Watsonville, located
several miles from the quake’s
epicentre
Tectonic Plates involved The North American plate and
the Pacific plate were involved
along with the Juan de Fuca
plate that caused additional
shocks
Duration It hit at 17:04 and aftershocks
continued for the next 36 hours.
Casualties The number of fatalities equated
to 67 people with almost 3000
people being injured. However
in Watsonville 30% of its
downtown and 1 in 8 houses
were destroyed.
The total damages of the
earthquake were estimated at
more than $5 billion.
Magnitude The magnitude of the
earthquake was measured
between 6.5 and 7.5 on the
Richter scale which is considered
to be major(causes damage to
most buildings with some to
partially/completely collapsing
or receive severe damage)
April 25, 2015
There was a convergence of the
Eurasian plate and the Indian
plate along a fault line going
through the middle of Nepal and
India. This was responsible for a
4 aftershocks altogether.
The epicentre was located 48
miles northwest of Kathmandu.
Bharatpur, Kathmandu and
Panaoti were the most severely
affected states of Nepal and
tremors were felt by 10 states in
both Nepal and India. The
earthquake was also felt across
southwestern China as well as
experienced in Pakistan, Bhutan
and Bangladesh.
The main plates involved were
the Eurasian plate and The
Indian plate that caused the
earthquake as well as the
aftershocks felt throughout the
region
The first earthquake hit at 11:56
am and lasted for about 50
seconds. Two more shocks hit at
06:11 and 06:45.
About 9000 people were killed,
many thousands more were
injured and more than 600,000
structures in Kathmandu and
other nearby towns were either
damaged or destroyed. An
aftershock on 12 May killed
more than 100 people and
injured almost 1,900 people.
Damages were estimated at $10
billion
The initial shock, which
registered a moment magnitude
of 7.8 and the two large
aftershocks were recorded to
have magnitudes of 6.6 and 6.7