Natural Disaster

Earth Quakes

"1999 Izmit earthquake." Wikipedia. Eurasian Earth Science Institute. 1 Feb. 09 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_earthquake.

About 80 percent of earthquakes occur by the Pacific Ocean. Earthquakes occur by giant rocks that make up the earth collide, strech, or squeeze against each other. This is usually unnoticeable on the surface. If the plates rubbing against each other become stronger then that stress will release quickly and send massive vibrations called seismic waves up to the surface. On average, 10,000 people a year die in earthquakes.
In Turkey, on August 17 1999, the Izmit earthquake lasted only thirty seven seconds and killed between seventeen to forty thousand people and left half a million people homeless. The earthquake in industrealized and densely populated urban areas. Including oil refineries, several automotive plants, the the Turkish navy headquarters. The earthquake also caused a fire because a oil refinery tower collapsed which contained 700,000 tons of oil. In which took several days to get the fire under control. Turkish soldiers helped rescue their relatives. The bodies were buried quickly in mass graves to stop any spread of diseases. Greece was the first nation to give aid to Turkey. The Greek Ministry of Foregn Affairs contacted their counterparts of turkey and helped out as well. They also sent a rescue team of 24 people and two trained rescue dogs , as well as a fire extinguishing planes to help put out the fire. The U.K. granted 50,000 to help the Turkish, while the International Red Cross and Red Crescent promised 4.5 million to help victims. Blankets, medical suppiles and food were sent in as whel from a local airport. India helped by providing 32,000 tents and 2 million to rupees to help reconstruct. All together, the rescue teams of twelce countries helped out. Even our former, US president Bill Clinton visited to help out with the survivors.