Name: _____________________________________ Class: __________ Date: _______

Earthquake Hazard Analysis

Instruction sheet

The Scenario:  You have been transferred to the San Francisco Bay Area, which is prone to earthquakes. Your boss has selected five possible sites for you to purchase a house.  The 5 sites are; Palo Alto, San Francisco, Antioch, Pittsburg and Rohnert Park.  Obviously, you would prefer to purchase a home in a safe and livable place where there would be less possibility of earthquake damage and where there are other amenities. Your job will be to select the best place.

Specific task:  You and your colleagues (team) will research each of the five sites.  Based upon your findings, you will prepare a written report that will contain

·       a list of the factors that you considered (proximity to fault, shaking intensity, past history of earthquakes and damage, prediction of possible damage in case of a large earthquake, earthquake occurrence, underlying soils/liquefaction,)

·       how each of the locations compared to one another

·       your decision as to the best place to live if earthquake safety were the only consideration

·       the reasons that you came up with this decision

·       a list of other criteria that you might also consider in making your choice (e.g. cost of living, transportation, length of commute, proximity to recreational areas, etc.)

Resources:

The following websites will be useful for you:

http://quake.usgs.gov/~dalessio/DLESE/EQ/scenarios_aboutprobabilities.html
http://quake.usgs.gov/~dalessio/DLESE/EQ/index.html
http://quake.usgs.gov/~dalessio/DLESE/EQ/scenarios.html
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=TBOXR-000-000-000-141
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/qed/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/shakemap/
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2005/

 

DLESE Teaching Boxes | October 2005