Geological aspects of Aftershock: Earthquake in New York (1999)
The movie Aftershock: Earthquake in New York is a movie that is quite intriguing. However, the makers of the movie did not have extensive knowledge of geology. This is since the earthquake that led to extensive damage to the city is not a physical activity – it is chance for the locals in the city to acquire basic understanding. The damage that took place in New York was extensive and spawned several fatalities in loss. Actually, the film is more focused on the impact brought about by the earthquake. This arises due to the events that take place after the quake as opposed to the quake itself. The falling of structures are accorded varied special effects that are quite convincing. However, the movie does not offer us the feeling that the movie is real.
New York is has been known not to be on seismically active areas where earthquakes take place. They tend to take place in big areas in the western part of the country. Hence the risk brought about by the hazard is moderate. New York is presented as the epicenter of a major earthquake that leads to extensive damage to The Big Apple. The city’s underground has fault lines that offer a major threat than projected at first. Little evidence may however show that fault lines do not play a major role in earthquakes or other geological aspects in the city (Stein and Wysession, 9). Earthquake in New York may not be related to the fault lines due to the strong shaking that takes place with the earthquake. This s far from the Ramapo fault. The connection between fault lines and earthquake in New York City is quite complicated.
The earthquake in New York does not take a convincing turn of events – the earth goes through several scenes of shaking that appear unreal. Going to the impact brought about by the earthquake, they are well taken and CGI shots are well formed. The work put into the art section is worth recognizing due to the level of creativity used. Considering that the movie is titled aftershock, the movie goes through events that took place sometime earlier. It recycles pictures of volcano, asteroid and daylight.
The film takes us through the environmental impact of the earthquake. The volcanic surge can have an impact of volcanoes from a distance of 500 km from the epicentre of the earthquake. The seismic waves that follow the earthquake rupture may go on to result to an eruption through stirring or constant movement of the molten rock below the volcanoes (Stein and Wysession, 20). The commotion that arises from this activity leads to an eruption. However, this take place sometime after the earthquake as the pressure has to build up.
The earthquake have similarly been known to cause landslides. This arises due to the earth shaking and making the earth soil structure to become loose, this results to people and land that live on high grounds to be taken away by loose soil. This loose soil ends up filling rivers and making them to overflow to the nearby towns. Additionally, the earthquake that occur close to the ocean can at times lead to tsunami or tidal waves. As in the case of New York, the quake of the earth would interfere with the water surface and cause huge waves that would flow to the earth’s surface like the city.
The use of nuclear bomb would not be of great help to break the crisis. The earthquake is a systematic occurrence that happens on weak fault line below the earth’s surface. The use of an atomic bomb, considering the power it carries when it goes off, would do extensive damage to the earth’s surface. This goes beyond extending the impact brought about by the earthquake. Additionally, the condition of the place offers this option as being of no importance. The regional geology has a great influence on the level and length of shaking but more on the site’s state (Stein and Wysession, 24). The process might be quite complicated for a place that experiences higher shaking. Generally, shaking on grounds that are soft is bigger than hard ground.
Rock climbing would not be of great benefit in this area. This takes into consideration the loose nature of the ground as discussed above. The grounds offer a great to the rock climbers as this may lead to collapsing of the rock. Additionally, any disturbance to the ground in terms of shaking would render the lives of the rock climbers to be at risk. Generally, the ground should be kept free from huge activities like explosions or risky activities like rock climbing.
An earthquake is a process that affects land surface that have weak fault lines. In regards to the movie, a lot of distraction can be felt from this process like falling of buildings and death of several people. On the geological aspect, the paper has focused on the impact that may arise from the quake like volcanic eruptions. It is hence advisable to avoid the use of high power activities as this would cause landslides and tidal waves. Additionally, rock climbing is highly not advisable.
Work Cited
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York. Perf. Richmond Ray. 1999. Film
Stein, S. and Wysession. An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.
