Question

Identify List some of the hazards associated with
earthquakes on land and underwater.
A chart in which students list some of the hazards associated with earthquakes on land and those underwater.

Answer 1

Here is a simple two-column chart students can use to list and compare hazards from earthquakes that occur on land vs. those that occur underwater. Each item includes a short plain explanation students can copy or expand.

Earthquake hazards on land
- Ground shaking — damage to buildings, bridges and other structures; injuries and deaths.
- Surface rupture — visible breaks in the ground that destroy roads, pipelines, foundations.
- Building collapse — especially unreinforced or poorly designed structures.
- Landslides and rockfalls — slope failures that bury roads and homes.
- Liquefaction — water-saturated soils lose strength, causing buildings and tanks to tilt or sink.
- Fires — from ruptured gas lines, electrical shorts, damaged industrial plants.
- Dam and levee failure — sudden flooding if reservoirs or levees are compromised.
- Hazardous-material releases — spills from factories, pipelines or storage tanks.
- Aftershocks — further damage and danger after the main quake.
- Displacement and public-health impacts — homelessness, disease risk, disrupted services.

Earthquake hazards underwater
- Tsunami generation — large waves that can flood coastlines, damage property, and cause casualties.
- Coastal inundation and strong currents — extreme flooding, erosion, and scour at shorelines and harbors.
- Submarine landslides — underwater slope failures that can amplify tsunamis and damage seafloor infrastructure.
- Seafloor rupture or offset — damage to undersea cables, pipelines and marine habitats.
- Damage to ports, piers and coastal infrastructure — destruction of shipping docks and waterfront facilities.
- Damage to offshore platforms and vessels — oil/gas platforms, ships and fishing fleets at risk.
- Disruption to fisheries and marine ecosystems — habitat loss, contamination, long-term ecological change.
- Long-distance tsunami propagation — waves traveling across oceans, impacting distant shores.
- Saltwater intrusion — flooding of coastal aquifers and farmland with seawater.

(Also note: many hazards overlap — e.g., an onshore quake near the coast can both collapse buildings and trigger a tsunami. Secondary effects such as economic loss, long-term displacement, and public-health crises apply to both types.)

Classroom use suggestion: give students the chart and ask them to add local examples, rank which hazards are most likely in your area, and list ways to reduce each hazard (preparedness, building codes, early warning, evacuation routes).