How do Earthquakes affect animals?

Submitted by ObberGobb t3_10vlp4r in askscience

I don't know much about earthquakes, but it seems to me like that primary concern posed by earthquakes would be people being harmed by collapsing structures. Is this true? If so, how big of an impact do earthquakes have on animals who don't live near buildings? I imagine animals that live in burrows would probably be threatened, but what about other animals? Do animals have any sort of response, or do they just kinda freak out? Do they get threatened by earthquakes that are threatening to human cities? What level of magnitude would pose a significant danger to animals?

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CartoonistNo5764 t1_j7jz2bq wrote

Architect here, aside from the comments already added here, it is important to point out that the scale of devastation in human population in an earthquake is most often due to the designed limit of buildings (environment) to be able to withstand the forces.

In other words. Earthquakes alone don’t kill people, earthquakes topple buildings which then in turn kill people.

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Mord42 t1_j7k2ivs wrote

Earthquakes also cause soil liquefaction (sinkholes), landslides, and in some cases tsunamis. It also frequently cases sewage backflow and flooding. All of which kills people without toppling buildings.

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EmpathyZero t1_j7kdn9s wrote

I like this answer. It’s kinda like this phrase but for earthquakes.

“It’s not falling that kills you, it’s the sudden stop.”

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ziptool1 t1_j7jtwhr wrote

Earthquake causes many issues other than the shaking. You have Soil liquefaction, landslide, fractures. Any of those can cause them to get burried and or squished. Although it is true that the biggest danger comes from your environnement collapsing. So you can’t really state a level. If you stand on a plain field i believe that even the strongest earthquake would not cause you any harm.

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