The extent to which tectonic processes represent a hazard depends upon when and where they are experienced (40)

A hazard can best be defined as a 'situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property or the environment.' The overall impact of earthquakes as a natural hazard varies greatly from one place and timeframe to another. As do the types of hazards, which are categorised into primary and secondary. Primary hazards are created by the direct seismic energy of an earthquake; this could include liquefaction, slope failure and tsunamis. These primary hazards can in turn trigger secondary hazards such as floods, fires, disease and destabilisation of infrastructure. A number of factors play a part in determining the severity …show more content…

The only benefit of earthquake occurring overnight is that families are often close together and can support one another through the traumatic event. Volcanic eruptions that occur during the day are often dealt with much better as people are out and about and can escape much quicker as escape routes can be planned and emergency services are there to lessen the impacts of the event. Earthquakes are often also safer if they occur during the day as many people are at work, this is because business’ in earthquake zones often have rules set in place to deal with the event, therefore reducing the risk of injury to the members of the business. Although many would say that the day time is the best time for an earthquake to take place this cannot always be the case. For example in 1989 an earthquake hit San Francisco at 17:04 local time. The earthquake measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and caused devastation to many. The main reasoning behind why the earthquake was so bad was because it occurred during rush hour, and before a major American football game. The earthquake caused damage to a lot of infrastructure with collapsed bridges and freeways, fires, shattered buildings, gaping cracks in roads and landslides. Due to the collapsed two tier freeway it resulted in many people being trapped under debris and a huge scale rescue undergone by the emergency team and