Impact of earthquakes on the environment

Earthquakes are natural disasters that not only cause damage in their own right, but also form a chain of events that can lead to secondary disasters. Earthquakes are extremely destructive, and not only can they cause houses to collapse and jeopardize human lives, but they can also cause great damage to the environment. Seismic secondary environmental hazards refer to the environmental pollution events triggered by destructive earthquakes. The environmental problems associated with earthquakes in the international arena include habitat loss and degradation, loss of biodiversity and displacement of wildlife species, sudden flooding, persistent landslides and soil erosion, reduction of natural resources, deforestation for fuel, construction and housing purposes, health hazards due to poor sanitation and waste management, and a significant increase in the transportation of construction materials. Significant increase in transportation of construction materials, accumulation of debris in dry watercourses and on the banks of rivers and streams, contamination of surface or groundwater bodies, hazards caused by silt accumulation during river recharge, and psychosocial risks. Earthquakes can cause the release of hazardous materials. After a severe earthquake, some containers of hazardous materials rupture, causing them to flow into nearby water bodies, altering the quality of the water and causing water contamination, and due to the fluidity of the water bodies, expanding the scope of the contamination. Earthquakes cause buildings to collapse. In the earthquake, many chemical plants, paper mills, and other enterprises with large amounts of sewage were damaged, and chemical substances leaked out, paralyzing the water treatment system; the rupture of sewage pipes in residential houses, toilets, and guttering caused sewage to be discharged; and collapsed buildings caused a large increase in the amount of solid wastes. Earthquakes change the geological conditions of the countryside, aggravate soil erosion, and increase agricultural surface pollution. Earthquakes also affect the distribution of pollutants in urban and rural areas, especially heavy metal pollutants due to cracks and collapsing buildings. The earthquake also caused flooding and increased the environmental impact of the earthquake when it caused the collapse of reservoirs, reservoir hubs, and other natural water resources such as lakes. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the earthquake, and the persistent rains have made it even more difficult to dispose of the bodies. The bodies of the victims were piled up for a long time, and rotting materials seeped into the ground with the rainwater, causing groundwater contamination, while the embalming of the corpses used a large amount of disinfectants, which also caused damage to the environment. The severe earthquake disaster caused various degrees of damage to pollution control facilities, resulting in environmental protection facilities not functioning properly. For example, the sewage treatment facilities in the sewage treatment plants in various cities and towns were shut down due to various degrees of damage, and the prolonged shutdown caused damages to the pipelines and equipment of the sewage treatment facilities, especially the massive death of aerobic microorganisms after stopping the aeration, which led to the anaerobic microorganisms generating a large amount of flammable gases under the state of anoxia, and made the safety of these areas a potential danger. In the process of disaster relief, a large amount of domestic garbage and untreated waste materials from hospitals could not be disposed of in a timely manner, which made the already fragile environment in the disaster area bear more pressure. Some time ago, I read reports that Sichuan might lose out on a site for a nuclear power plant because of the earthquake. In fact, because nuclear power plants are built to withstand earthquakes and are automatically shut down to protect against radiation in the event of an emergency, they are much less risky than other chemical plants that produce hazardous materials. For example, after the earthquake, chemical plants collapsed in Shifang City and Deyang City, causing sulfuric acid and liquid ammonia to leak; chemical warehouses leaked in Wenchuan and the surrounding areas; and fertilizer plants collapsed in some towns. These will undoubtedly cause different degrees of pollution to water bodies and the atmosphere. In order to prevent environmental disasters secondary to earthquakes, it is important to be aware of the risks and to take precautions before they occur. Such as major construction projects and construction projects that may cause serious secondary environmental disasters (construction projects that may cause floods, fires, explosions, massive leakage of highly toxic or corrosive substances, and other serious secondary disasters after being damaged by earthquakes, including reservoirs, dams, and other major construction projects). Including reservoirs, dams, embankments, oil storage, gas storage and other storage of flammable and explosive, highly toxic or corrosive substances, and other construction projects that may cause serious secondary disasters), must be seismic safety evaluation, and based on the results of the seismic safety evaluation to determine the requirements of seismic defenses, seismic defenses. As for the key polluting industrial enterprises, their production resumption should be matched with the production capacity of the environmental protection facilities, and in principle, the amount of pollutants discharged by the resumed production enterprises should not exceed the treatment capacity of their environmental protection facilities. They should first resume the operation of their own environmental protection facilities, and only after the environmental protection facilities are running normally can they fully resume production. Since the power outage in a disaster has a significant impact on the operation of the environmental protection facilities of the production enterprises, there may be problems such as failure to meet the discharge standards or accidental discharge during the resumption of production, and the monitoring of the water quality of surface water near the discharge outlets and water intakes should be strengthened. In terms of prevention, Japan's experience is worth learning from. Japan is a country where earthquakes occur frequently, and they have a computerized earthquake warning system to protect against earthquakes. This system can quickly cut off the supply of gas, water, electricity and other public **** facilities within seconds of a major earthquake, thus minimizing the possibility of secondary disasters and environmental pollution. In the instant of disaster, the destructive power of nature reveals the insignificance of human beings. However, human beings are so powerful that they never bow down in the face of disasters and use their own wisdom to save themselves. Disaster has occurred, sighing and mourning can not help, we have to cheer up, hand in hand with ***, rebuild their homes.