The objective of this paper is to identify and analyse the major anthropogenic factors which are affecting pore pressure of the rocks inside the Earth’s crust which determines the frequency of earthquakes and is responsible for causing seismic events, eventually leading to seismic movements. These activities include construction of dams, hydraulic fracking, carbon sequestration, and radiations from certain technologies such as the United States’ High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) which is now being used for research purposes. It also studies how temperature and pressure are related and trigger earthquakes and how global warming is affecting the Earth’s pore pressure. The effects of these factors were assessed on different parts of the world such as USA, Pakistan and India, where earthquakes were triggered. 

The study is based on desk research, including review of research papers and case studies on the subject. The findings from this secondary review indicated that fracking and building reservoirs have resulted in significant seismic events in many parts of the world, even in areas such as Oklahoma, USA, which were not seismically active, but which witnessed earthquakes after fracking and reservoir projects were initiated (Justin et al.  2015). Moreover, there exists a positive correlation between temperature increase and earthquake frequency (Usman et al. 2011). Furthermore, the paper also studies if the radiations emitted under programmes such as HAARP can cause disturbance in the earth’s crust because very low frequency radiations emitted from transmitters can also trigger seismic movements in the crust (Kim et al. 2002). However, human factors such as building of artificial dams, and hydraulic fracking are also major contributing factors towards increasing the frequency of earthquakes around the globe (Petersen et al. 2016). The paper will discuss how the Sendai Framework can play a role to reduce the impacts of anthropogenic activities which can trigger disasters, such as earthquakes. 

References

Kim, V.P. Pulinets, S.A. and Hegai, V.V. 2002, ‘Theoretical Model of Possible Disturbances in the Nighttime Mid-Latitude Ionospheric D Region over an Area of Strong-Earthquake Preparation’, Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics, vol.45, no.4, pp.262-268.

Petersen, M.D. Mueller, C.S. and Moschetti, M.P. et al. 2016, ‘2016 One-Year Seismic Hazard Forecast for the Central and Eastern United States from Induced and Natural Earthquakes’, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 1035, doi:10.3133/ofr20161035.  

Rubinstein, J.L and Mahani, A.B. 2015, ‘Myths and Facts on Wastewater Injection, Hydraulic Fracturing, Enhanced Oil Recovery, and Induced Seismicity’, Seismological Research Letters, vol.86, no. 4, pp. 1-8.

Usman, M. Zafar, M. and Qadir, A. 2011, ‘Analysis of Correlation between Temperature Increase and Earthquake Frequency in Northern Pakistan’, A scientific journal of COMSATS-Science Vision, vol.15, no.1, pp. 39-50.