Tuesday, February 23, 2010
BREAKING NEWS : An Earthquake That happened In Southern Italy, Irpinia.
By : Ang Hui Jan (1)
1 Unity
24 February 2010
On the 23rd of November, 1980, a powerful earthquake hit Southern Italy, Irpinia
. The earthquake measured 6.5 on the richter scale and it was caused by the Eurasian plate and the Indian plate - these two converging plates were pushing towards each other.
According to official statistics, the earthquake in Southern Italy, Irpinia killed 2914 people, injured more than 10000 citizens and left 300000 people homeless. Damage was spread around 26000km. Countries around them like Castelnuovo di Conza, Conza della Campania, Lioni, Sant' Angelo dei Lombardi, Laviano and Santomenna were affected too. They were almost completely destroyed by this disastrous earthquake. About 12 structures in Naples were destroyed, including a 10-storey apartment building.
The first jolt was also followed by 90 aftershocks. Landslides caused many buildings to collapse and the earthquake caused many ground cracks.
The government spent 59 billion on reconstruction, while other nations sent money to help them too. Germany contributed 32 million United States Dollars (USD) and the United States contributed 70 million USD.
They were very helpful towards Irpinia at that time.
Sadly, the funds for the earthquake were not used on the victims. only 25% of the funds (40billion) was spent on the victims. the remaining 75% went into the pockets of the polititions and people of a higher class.
I think that these sort of natural disasters are inavoidable. But since technology is so modern these days, the scientists can actually track when and where the natural disasters will happen. Therefore they can warn the people of that certain country to evacuate before the disaster happens. By doing this, the people who are affected will be less and the injuries and deaths will be unnecessary.
Bibliography : WebsitesU.S. Department of the Interior, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/world_deaths.php , extracted 24/02/2010.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy_Earthquake_of_1980 , extracted 24/02/2010.
Google, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Plates_tect2_en.svg/798px-Plates_tect2_en.svg.png , extracted 24/02/2010.
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If it's in the news,
it's in the news.
11:49 PM
