It is true that in seismically active areas, the duty to build all buildings from reinforced concrete was introduced in the 20th century. For example, in Greece or Turkey, you will not find any new brick buildings. Despite these precautions, the movement of the Earth\’s plates is still very dangerous. Therefore, the governments of all countries where earthquakes occur frequently spend significant resources on prevention, primarily aimed at early warning of the population.
Sensors that respond to the movement of the Earth have been in use for 200 years, but despite large-scale technological developments, they cannot be predicted in time. It remains only to accurately measure the strength of this natural phenomenon.
1. One way to learn to register an impending disaster in time is to study its impact.
For example, if there has been no earthquake in the seismic activity zone for some time, it should come soon. The longer the time between Earth movements, the greater the magnitude expected next time.
What do scientists see?
· Seismic activity zone, the location of the seismic activity zone where seismic activity does not occur. In these regions, it is very likely that a large movement of the Earth\’s plates will be expected here.
*Learn about groundwater levelsand the rock tension that pushes groundwater to the surface. Therefore, all springs in seismically active areas are monitored very carefully.
*Changes in the electrical resistance of the soil, which changes with changes in the magnetic field before the Earth\’s activity.
*Animal behaviorDogs bark and howl, pandas moan, chickens flee burrows, rats and rats leave burrows, and fish jump into ponds.
*Radon content in soil, which increases with the approach of changes in the movement of the Earth\’s crust.
State-of-the-art forecasting methods show rock stress using accurate measurements of Earth motion. For this, laser rangefinder is mainly used. They can detect even very small deformations. The data from these devices is analyzed by a supercomputer, which allows scientists to warn residents even a few days ago. However, they can not accurately estimate the local size.