Module 4: "Surface Amplified Haiti Earthquake" and "A Rocky Road Ahead"

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. intensify
    increase in extent or strength
    Third, the city lies on soft ground, which intensified the shaking.
  2. topography
    the configuration of a surface and its features
    Now a team of U.S. geologists has discovered a fourth factor: the topography of the region. Topography is the shape, height, and depth of land's surface.
  3. detect
    discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
    A seismometer is an instrument that detects and records vibrations and movements in the ground.
  4. adjoin
    lie next to another or share a boundary
    After the quake, Hough installed more seismometers in the country. She placed two on a prominent ridge in the city and two in an adjoining valley.
  5. severe
    very strong or vigorous
    Hough found that the tremors were more severe along the ridge than they were in the valley.
  6. amplify
    increase in size, volume or significance
    Those findings suggest that the shock waves produced by the original earthquake bounced back and forth within the ridge, amplifying the amount of shaking there, she says.
  7. withstand
    resist or confront with resistance
    Even those buildings could not withstand the quake's vibrations, intensified as they were by the ridge, says Hough.
  8. recover
    get over an illness or shock
    People in the nation of Haiti are struggling to recover weeks after a devastating earthquake.
  9. devastating
    wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction
    People in the nation of Haiti are struggling to recover weeks after a devastating earthquake.
  10. collapse
    break down, literally or metaphorically
    The Presidential Palace, which is like the White House here in the U.S., was among many government buildings that collapsed.
  11. countless
    very many; too numerous to be numbered
    Countless homes were destroyed, along with schools and hospitals.
  12. cope
    come to terms with
    The disaster added to the suffering of a people already struggling to cope with everyday life.
  13. common
    belonging to or participated in by the people as a whole
    "This is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share," President Barack Obama said.
  14. epicenter
    a point on the Earth's surface directly above an earthquake
    The earthquake's epicenter was about 10 miles from Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
  15. volunteer
    do work by choice
    Some have traveled to Haiti to volunteer their medical or search-and-rescue services.
Created on Thu Oct 01 14:16:46 EDT 2020 (updated Fri Oct 02 11:45:02 EDT 2020)

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