Unit 3 Webquest - Internet Project

Unit 3 WebQuest - Internet Project

On Quake Anniversary, Japan Still Worries

Introduction | Task | Process | Guidance | Conclusion | Questions

Introduction

USA Today, January 16, 2001

As Japan marks the sixth anniversary of the devastating Kobe earthquake this week, a different seismic threat is worrying the country: Mount Fuji. Researchers have measured a sudden increase of small earthquakes on the volcano, indicating there is movement of magma underneath its snowcapped, nearly symmetrical cone about 65 miles from Tokyo.

In the past, there have been only one or two tiny quakes under Mt. Fuji per month. But in September, there were 35 - and that rose quickly to 133 in October and 222 in November. The number dropped to 144 in December.

The tremors during those three months accounted for 30% of the quakes there in the past 20 years, said Koji Takada of the Central Meteorological Agency's volcano division.

Nearby towns have decided to hold a disaster prevention drill next summer. The volcano last erupted in 1707.

Officials, however, say there is no need to panic.

''There's no fear of an immediate eruption,'' Takada said. ''There have been quakes, but we haven't observed any change in the mountain's surface.''

The rumblings on Mount Fuji come as Japan remembers the Jan. 17, 1995, earthquake that devastated the western port city of Kobe, killing more than 6,400 people and wiping out hundreds of thousands of buildings.

They also coincide with the Central American quake, which was still among top news stories in Japan on Tuesday. The government announced that Japan will give El Salvador $650,000 in emergency aid.

Kobe has largely recovered from its earthquake. Destroyed city blocks have been rebuilt, roads and train lines have been stitched back together, and most of the temporary housing for the homeless is now empty.

One legacy of the quake is the official campaign to strengthen the country's disaster preparedness. In the Kobe quake, the government was widely criticized for a slow response and poor emergency planning.

A survey by the national Yomiuri newspaper published Tuesday showed that all of the 182 major local governments have reviewed their disaster-prevention and response plans in the aftermath of the Kobe quake.

The nationwide poll also found that most have established measures to aid elderly and disabled people, and set up systems for accepting volunteers.

But there were some holes. While most parts of Tokyo and neighboring Yokohama have put together new quake-response measures, no such plans have yet been drawn up for the major cities of Osaka, Nagoya or Fukuoka, the survey showed.

Lack of relief for people whose homes are destroyed in a quake is also a concern. Many victims of the Kobe quake are still bitter that while the government moved quickly to rebuild highways and train lines, ordinary people were left with the massive expense of building new homes.

In an editorial Tuesday, the Asahi newspaper called on the government to strengthen a national plan to help such people out.

''Rebuilding homes of disaster victims equates to rebuilding their lives,'' the Asahi said. ''If one element is missing, the other cannot be achieved.''

Mt. Fuji is not the only cause of recent concern.

Two volcanoes in Japan erupted last year on the northern island of Hokkaido and an island off the coast of Tokyo. Also, a strong earthquake jolted a southwestern region.

The activity has intensified the long-standing expectation that Tokyo is in danger of a devastating quake like the one that destroyed the city in 1923.

A geophysics expert at Tokyo University warned on Monday that the evidence indicates the country could be nearing a large-scale seismic movement.

''It looks like we are moving into an active period in Japan,'' said Naoshi Hirata.

The Task

You plan to enter a science contest that requires you to submit a research report on some type of natural disaster. You have chosen to write a report on earthquakes. If you prefer, the report can be published as a Web page and displayed on the Internet for the judges to review. You must choose one important earthquake on which data is available. Your report (Web page) needs to contain the following information:

the name, epicenter, and date for the earthquake you have chosen;

a map of the location of your earthquake relative to other countries, states, or areas of the world;

an explanation of how the epicenter of an earthquake is located. Be sure to include any tables, graphs, diagrams, or other information that is needed to explain this process;

an explanation of two measurement scales used to classify earthquakes. You should also give the measure of your chosen earthquake using at least one of the scales.

You will get some ideas about how to complete your project from the Exercises in the textbook in Lessons 8-3, 9-3, and 10-1.

The Process

To successfully complete this project, you will need to complete the following items.

Find the name, epicenter, and date of an important earthquake upon which you plan to base your research report. For help, try these Web sites.

www.infoplease.com and search for earthquakes

www.iris.edu

www.yahoo.com and search for earthquakes

Find a map that shows the location of the earthquake that you chose. For help, try these Web sites.

dir.yahoo.com/Science/Geography/Cartography/Maps/

www.iris.washington.edu/quakes/maps.htm

Find an explanation of how the epicenter of an earthquake is located. For help, try these Web sites.

www.seismo.unr.edu

www.usatoday.com/news/science/geology/understanding-earthquakes.htm

dir.yahoo.com/Science/Earth_Sciences/Geology_and_Geophysics/ and search for earthquakes

Find an explanation for at least two measurement scales used to classify earthquakes. For help, try these Web sites.

www.usatoday.com/news/science/geology/understanding-earthquakes.htm

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763386.html

Be creative. Add some additional data, information, or even pictures to your research paper or Web page.

Guidance

Here are some additional questions and ideas you may want to consider for your project.

What is a tsunami? How is it related to earthquakes? What are the dangers of tsunamis?

What was the economic impact of the earthquake that you chose to study?

How do people prepare for a possible earthquake?

Where in the U.S. are earthquakes most likely to occur? Make a map graph showing the most likely locations.

How are cities changing building standards to address the possibility of earthquakes?

Can earthquakes be predicted and/or prevented? What are researchers doing in the field of earthquakes?

Conclusion

Here are some ideas for concluding your project.

Present your project to your class or at a family night.

Present the information on a Web page. Have other students critique your project and help you to make improvements to your project.

Interview a person who works in researching or recording information about earthquakes. Find out what mathematics this person needs to use in this career.

Questions

Lesson 8—3

To pinpoint the epicenter of an earthquake, information is often obtained from three different seismograph stations. Circles are drawn with each station as a center. The point where the three circles intersect is most likely the epicenter of the quake.

On grid paper, carefully draw these three circles where each center is the location of a station on a coordinate grid.

Circle 1: center at (0, 0); radius 3 units

Circle 2: center at (-6, 0); radius 4 units

Circle 3: center at (-2, -6); radius 4.25 units

What are the approximate coordinates of the intersection of the three circles?

Write an equation for each of the three circles.

Show that the intersection point found in part a satisfies the three equations you wrote in part b. (Your results probably will not be exact since your measurements may have been slightly inaccurate, but they should be close.)

Lesson 9—3

Primary and secondary seismic waves from an earthquake arrive at different times at seismograph stations during an earthquake. The table shows the arrival times for primary and secondary waves relative to the distance that the station is from the epicenter of the earthquake.

On the same coordinate plane, make two scatter plots of the data from the table.

1.  What type of function do you think would best model the scatter plots?

2.  Find an equation to model each function.

3.  Find the difference between the arrival of the secondary wave and the primary wave.

4.  Make a scatter plot of distance (x-axis) and difference in time (y-axis). What type of function do you think would best model the scatter plot?

5.  Find an equation to model the function.

6. Compare the equations you wrote for the scatter plots. Describe similarities and differences between the three equations.

Lesson 10—1

The Richter scale describes the intensity of an earthquake. It was developed by Charles Richter in 1935. The table shows how the intensity of an earthquake increases as the number increases.

1. Use a graphing calculator to make a scatter plot for the data in the table.

2. Find an equation for an exponential equation to fit the data.