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Damage
In the last 500 years, several million people have been killed by earthquakes. Over 240,000 people were killed in the T'ang-Shan, China earthquake in 1976. Heavy ground vibrations from earthquakes can cause serious damage. Walls crack, and buildings collapse. Power and phone lines break down. Flooding can happen which leaves people without drinking water. Also, earthquakes can cause mud slides, land slides and tsunamis.
Prediction and Notification Systems
Scientists are always trying to predict earthquakes but they are never quite right. You really can't predict earthquakes but you can make probabilities. Probabilities are even if you can't predict exactly where earthquakes are you can predict where they might be and in the area they might be in.
Prediction: Warning Signs
A jackhammer motion is an early sign that an earthquake is happening. Sometimes, little shakes in the earth can warn people of earthquakes too. Also as you've learned earlier you can't predict earthquakes. Well, a goal of earthquake prediction is to give warning signs to the area of the most damaging earthquakes so people can prepare. One interesting fact about how people prepare for earthquakes is that in areas where earthquakes often happen they make their buildings in an odd shape so it won't move as much.
If I had to choose between living by earthquakes or volcanoes, I would choose living by an earthquake. I would rather live by an earthquake because even if many people have died there, they are now making buildings stronger so they can survive the earthquakes. Also, from what I know about volcanoes, they can be very dangerous at times. Earthquakes can be dangerous too, but scientists give as many warning signs as possible and make it as safe as possible.
Sources
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/earthq1/predict.html
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/SEIS
PNSN/INFO_GENERAL/eq_prediction.html
Earthquakes and Volcanoes by Dr Basil Booth
Microsoft Encarta CD_ROM Encyclopedia 2001
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