Human Civilisations and Plate Tectonic Boundaries

Human Civilisations and Plate Tectonic Boundaries
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Human Civilisations and Plate Tectonic Boundaries
Introduction
Geographers attribute the six continents' existence to a tectonic plate collision and movement that took place several years ago. This, according to geologists, must have occurred as a result of cyclonic activities, which causes faults that eventually forced the tectonic plates to move far away from each other. Today, earthquakes and hurricanes occurrences are being experienced in various parts of the world, and they too are associated with cyclonic movements. The earthquakes have resulted in a mixture of both positive and negative impacts on human civilization. On the one hand, the faults in areas such as the Middle East have raised the water table, thus easing access to water, which has led to the rise of agriculture and urban centers' development. On the contrary, the earthquake events have claimed many lives, with some killing up to 80% of the entire city or area. This paper explores the natural hazards that have occurred due to plate tectonics, the mitigations and adaptations developed by geologists to curb the same, and finally, the impact of climate change in controlling the prone risk regions to earthquakes.
Overview of Natural Hazards Concerning Plate Tectonics
Tectonic forces have triggered two significant factors that have resulted in the rise of the population around the tectonic plates. First, the faults and movement of the earth's crust have caused the areas around the earth's crusts to become more strategic in terms of accessing entry from one tectonic plate to the other. For instance, the coastal lines of different countries have experienced a surging number of people across time, something that has influenced most of such places to transform from rural to urban areas. As a result, the regions have experienced a growth in population despite their vulnerability status owing to their proximities to water tides and earthquakes, which have continued to claim several lives.
Human civilizations have thrived or gotten destroyed due to geological activities. While for some, it has brought prosperity, it has led to their demise. There is the ancient legend of Atlantis, which was quite a prosperous civilization. On one night, however, the city and the entire civilization were wiped off the earth's face, never to be seen again, due to what was perceived to be an underwater earthquake that caused a tsunami. It was an end to what was perhaps the greatest civilization at the time, according to legend.
The second factor that is more common in the Middle East which has resulted from the tectonic plate movements is the elevation of the water table. It was the case in Sefidabeh, where the population began to grow thanks to easy accessibility of water (Jackson, 2006). So was the case in other areas in Iran, such as Tabas and Bam City, which grew after water availability, which could be easily accessed through the "qanats" thanks to the rise in the water table (Jackson, 2006). Availability of water meant that the locals could practice agriculture, and the areas could grow. However, oblivious to the repercus...