Opinion: Earthquakes are a boon for Earth

Thousands were killed in a couple of devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake first struck Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey along the border with Syria, followed by a magnitude 7.5 quake nine hours later. 

The Earth shook with hundreds of smaller aftershocks between and after these two major earthquakes. But this was not the first or the last incident. 

Earthquakes have always occurred and will keep happening on the living planet. They are a boon to our planet reverberating with life, but also a curse. A boon because it makes the Earth stress-free, a curse because sometimes it causes a lot of loss of life and property. A major earthquake often leaves such a scene of destruction, the horrors of which do not fade from memory for years.

The energy in an earthquake passing through a particular surface site can be measured directly by recording the seismic ground motion, for example the ground velocity. Such recordings indicate an energy rate of 105 watts per square metre (9,300 watts per square foot) near a moderate earthquake source. The total power output of a fault rupturing in a shallow earthquake is in the order of 1014 watts, compared to 105 watts generated in rocket motors.

The total annual energy released in all earthquakes is 1025 ergs, which corresponds to work rates of 10-100 million kilowatts. This is about a thousandth of the annual amount of heat released from the Earth’s interior. About 90 per cent of the total seismic energy comes from earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above – that is, those whose energies are on the order of 1023 ergs or greater.

If the Earth is not released from such a huge amount of energy through earthquakes, then what would be the condition of our planet, it can be imagined. If more energy is stored in the Earth’s womb than its holding capacity and if there is no way to emit it through earthquakes, then in due course of time, only one earthquake can lead to even continental drifts. 

Therefore, earthquakes are a boon to keep the Earth's energy budget balanced, to keep it free from continuously generated internal stresses and to keep it intact and life-sustaining.

An earthquake is not a natural disaster, it is a law of nature and occurrences of earthquakes are inevitable. Assuming it to be a natural disaster, the blame for the deaths of millions of people so far is slapped on the earthquake and forgotten after some time, to wait for the “sacrifice” of more people in the next inevitable seismic event. 

Earthquakes are natural but huge losses of life and property during the incidence of an earthquake are anthropogenic. People don't die of earthquakes, they die from their housing technology. They die under the roofs of their homes, the homes they built to protect themselves. 

When an earthquake occurs, people do not fear it but run away from their homes in fear. At the time of an earthquake, if there is the most danger, then it is our own houses. Earthquakes wipe out all anthropogenic structures like dust! If you are in an open field at the time of an earthquake, you will not even feel it. It is our homes made with traditional construction techniques that turn an inevitable planet-friendly natural process into a disaster.

Quake-proof dwelling technology is readily implementable now and many countries have provided safe housing for their citizens by adopting earthquake-resistant construction technology. It is the legal and moral responsibility of any nation to ban the construction of unsafe houses and to ensure earthquake-resistant housing for the citizens. 

That's why deaths in the earthquake should be considered political, not natural. These are not deaths, but political murders, for which the government of the concerned country is responsible.

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.

Science & Technology World