Alright champs, we're diving into the fascinating world of geography, where earthquakes rock, volcanoes blow their tops, tsunamis surf the shore, and landslides... well, they slide.

• Terracing: Making mountainsides look like giant staircases. This not only reduces steepness but also makes them more secure.
  • Real-world example: Think of the rice terraces in the Philippines. Beautiful, right? And effective too!
• Drainage: Removes excess water in slopes, making them less likely to crumble like a sandcastle in a tide.
• Restraint: Sometimes you need a strong hand. Gabions (cages filled with rocks) and stone walls keep the failed material from running amok.
• Erosion control: Uses techniques like rock armor and revetments to reduce forces at the cliff base.
  • Real-world example: Coastal cities use these techniques to protect their shorelines from being eroded away.

Ah, the earth's temper tantrums! They're hard to predict and difficult to stop, but we've got some tactics up our sleeves:

• Prediction: Seismologists are always on the lookout for early signs of earthquakes, kinda like weather forecasts, but for the ground.
• Building design: Here's where our architectural superheroes come in. They design buildings to withstand earthquakes. Options include:
  • Single-storey buildings: Less likely to sway during earthquakes.
  • Soft storey: A lower floor (often used as a car park) designed to collapse and cushion the upper floors during an earthquake.
  • Basement isolation: Think of it as putting your building on giant rubber mounts. These let the ground move without shaking your building.
  • Building reinforcement: Buildings can have foundations deep in bedrock and steel frames that can shake it off (thanks, Taylor Swift!) when an earthquake hits.
• Land-use planning: This means not building in high-risk areas. Kinda like not setting up a picnic in the middle of a football field.
• Public information: Making sure people know what to do during an earthquake. Duck, cover, and hold on!

Building a house that can shake it off isn't cheap, but some cost-effective solutions can make buildings in less developed countries safer.

• Reinforcing walls with strong plastic mesh: This prevents walls from collapsing immediately during an earthquake, providing an escape chance.
  • Real-world example: Peru started reinforcing their traditional adobe walls after a devastating earthquake in 1970.
• Using local materials: Reinforced bamboo in India, ground-motion dampers (old tires filled with sand) in Indonesia, or resilient straw in northern Pakistan. Local is always cooler!