Madagascar and Earthquake Activity



 Madagascar is a country that is at a high risk for frequent natural disasters, earthquakes being no exception. With an average total of 500 earthquakes a year, the government of Madagascar has improved their current risk management plans in an effort to reduce the loss of infrastructure as well as prepare their people for when disaster strikes. This plan, implemented initially in 2003, has been consistently updating its policies and encouraging new laws since, in order to effectively plan for an after-quake mediation. It seems that the Malagasy government has taken more of a reactive, rather than proactive approach when it comes to the risk management strategy, but helpful nonetheless. This strategy has so far included planting numerous excavators, wheel loaders, dump trucks, ambulances, and firetrucks around the entirety of country but focusing on its most seismically active region- below the Ankaratra Plateau in the center of the island. Here, the country has seen its biggest earthquakes, ranging in magnitude from 5.2-5.5; the last 5.5 magnitude earthquake occurring in 1991.

Sources:

https://www.preventionweb.net/files/66376_f346finalrandriamanalinamadagascarr.pdf

https://thinkhazard.org/en/report/150-madagascar/EQ

Comments

  1. Madison MartiniSeptember 11, 2022 at 8:27 PM

    Hi Calista! I enjoyed reading your blog post this week about Madagascar. It was very different from mine. My country is Sweden, and they hardly have any earthquakes, so I enjoyed reading something new and different. Great job!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Madagascar Intro Post

Image
Madagascar, Africa's largest island, is located in the Indian Ocean having a population of over 27 million people. The toppgraphy of the land varies from elevated plateaus running centrally through the island, to coastal low-lands. These peaks range in height, with the highest being anywhere between 8,270-9,468 ft in altitude. Due to these differences in landscapes, the country expereinces multiple types of tempareatures and climates- with winters in the mountains getting to below freezing tempartures, while the coastal regions remain hot and sunny all year-round.  Madagascar is most known for its wildlife, as its home to more than 100,000 native species of plants, 90% of which are found only in this country. The most notable and famous of these plants include the baobab tree, a bottle-neck shaped plant that are considered sacred to the country's people. Along with housing a wide array of plants, Madagascar is also home to 70 different species of lemurs, and an estimated 55 end
Read more

Week 8: Mass Wasting in Madagascar

Image
  According to ThinkHazard.org, Madagascar is ranked high for mass wasting/ landslides. Madagascar is an island country, with high terrain slopes and inclining dunes/hills formed around the country, which often trigger these natural disasters to occur. Although gravity is the main instigator of these mass wastings, rather than there needing to be a preceding disaster to occur, Madagascar does experience a relatively high amount of earthquakes and heavy rainfall that can contribute to these landslides, in conjunction with natural force of gravity. Many houses in regions of the country are built upon unstable hills as well, which often leave infrastructure hurt due to these heavy rainfalls, especially. One of these particular post-storm events led to the destruction of many homes in February 2018 in the capital city, Antananarivo, and unfortunately took the lives of 7 civilians in the area.   https://floodlist.com/africa/madagascar-floods-antananarivo-january-2019 https://thinkhaza
Read more