Earthquakes

Earthquakes and Movies

On April 25th 2015 the world is rocked by a major earthquake in Nepal. Latest figures indicate that the 7.8 magnitude earthquake is responsible for more than 8800 death.

And recently in Malaysia, we are also experiencing earthquakes... in Sabah. The big earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 has rocked the area around Ranau on 5th June 2015, and since then there have been more than a hundred aftershocks and minor tremors. This earthquake phenomena might be something common to those people living in earthquake prone areas such as in Indonesia, Japan, South American countries and many other parts of the world, but to think that it can actually happen in Malaysia, is something that we might not be aware of.

What are earthquakes?

If you want to learn more about earthquakes you browse the internet, as there are sites such as Wikipedia that can provide some general information; or look out for books in the library (or bookstore), or you can watch an earthquake movie. But while watching movie might give you an exciting experience and a visual explanation, be careful as some explanation in movies can sometimes be a bit 'illogical'.



I remember when I am in high school in the mid 70s, there is this blockbuster movie called Earthquake staring Charlton Heston. In the 70s the in-thing at that time are disaster movies, such as Jaws, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno to name a few. Earthquake is quite revolutionary since it uses the innovative 'sensurround' effect, the first of it's kind, which is later being used in other movies such as Battle of Midway and Rollercoaster. This movie is a hit in Malaysia as people are wanting to feel this 'sensurround' effect.



I also remember when while I am taking my first Geology Class in university (Geology 100 - Earth Studies) in 1979, my lecturer made all of us watch a few earthquake documentaries. We were shown footage of the Great Alaskan Earthquake and a movie that I still remember until today called San Francisco: A City that Waits to Die. This is a movie about the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and the prediction that a 'big one' will happen soon. Well a 'big one' did actually happen in 1989. 

The earthquake in the San Francisco area is actually cause mainly by the San Andreas Fault which is a 1300 km transform fault stretching along the western coast of the United States. It is a strike-slip fault meaning that the earth movement is more of a horizontal motion, unlike the 'vertical' plate movement at 'thrust' faults located in the big earthquake areas such as the one that caused the Great Alaskan Earthquake (1964), the Valdivia Earthquake in Chile (1960), and the Boxing Day Earthquake in Indonesia (2006).



I encourage you to watch the movie San Andres, still showing in theaters right now, although some 'facts' are slightly exaggerated such as our ability to predict and pinpoint exact earthquake (which I think is still a long way before we can actually do it) and the formation of a tsunami (which I think highly unlikely as tsunami usually formed at areas with thrust faults - where large volume of water need to be displaced).
Watch the movie and see what you think of it? Will it happen soon, and are we prepared...