Earthquake Intensities

When an earthquake occurs the land surface vibrates and shakes, and as a result streets, houses, fences,
bridges, and other structures are damaged. If we can determine how much damage has occurred, then we can
determine the intensity of the earthquake. The modified Mercalli scale was developed to specifically measure
the effect of an earthquake on people and buildings.
The modified Mercalli scale varies from I to XII, with higher Roman numerals indicating greater intensity
(Table 3). In general, we would expect intensity to decrease outward away from the epicenter. However, over
the last 50 years or so buildings and roads have been built under different types of engineering codes, and as a
result such manmade structures have differing resistance to ground shaking during an earthquake. Hence,
Mercalli intensities may vary from region to region and country to country as a function of building code.

The Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale

1. Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions.
2. Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings.
3. . Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Many people do not
recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibrations similar to the passing of
a truck. Duration estimated.
4. . Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows,
doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing
motor cars rocked noticeably.
5. Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned.
Pendulum clocks may stop.
6. . Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage
slight.
7. . Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in wellbuilt
ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys
broken.
8. Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings
with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns,
monuments, walls. Heavy furniture overturned.
9. Damage considerable in specially designed structures; welldesigned frame structures thrown out of
plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted off foundations.
10. Some wellbuilt wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with
foundations. Rails bent.
11. . Few, if any (masonry) structures remain standing. Bridges destroyed. Rails bent greatly.
12. Damage total. Lines of sight and level are distorted. Objects thrown into the air.
Definition:
The movement of Earths crust resulting from the release of built up potential energy between two stuck
tectonic plates.

OR
A sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's
crust or volcanic action.

Vocabulary of earthquake:

Epicenter
The point on the Earths surface directly above the focus of an earthquake.
Hypocenter

The hypocenter is the point within the earth where an earthquake rupture starts.
Fault
A fracture or zone of fractures in rock along which the two sides have been displaced
relative to each other. If the main sense of movement on the fault plane is up
(compressional; reverse) or down (extensional; normal), it is called a dip-slip fault.
Where the main sense of slip is horizontal the fault is known as a strike-slip fault.
Oblique-slip faults have both strike and dip slip.
Fault plane
The plane along which the break or shear of a fault occurs. It is a plane of differential
movement, that can be vertical as in a strike slip fault or inclined like a subduction
zone fault.
Fault zone
Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, the term fault zone is used
when referring to the zone of complex deformation that is associated with the fault plane.
Focus
The point on the fault at which the first movement or break occurred. Directly beneath
the epicenter at 150 km depth.
Tectonics
Large-scale deformation of the outer part of the Earth resulting from forces in the Earth.
Effects of earthquakes
The effects of earthquakes include, but are not limited to, the following:

Shaking and ground rupture

Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally
resulting in more or less severe damage to buildings and other rigid structures. The severity of the local effects
depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude, the distance from the epicenter, and the
local geological and geomorphological conditions, which may amplify or reduce wave propagation. The
ground-shaking is measured by ground acceleration.
Specific local geological, geomorphological, and geo structural features can induce high
levels of shaking on the ground surface even from low-intensity earthquakes. This effect is called site or local
amplification. It is principally due to the transfer of the seismic motion from hard deep soils to soft superficial
soils and to effects of seismic energy focalization owing to typical geometrical setting of the deposits.
Ground rupture is a visible breaking and displacement of the Earth's surface along the
trace of the fault, which may be of the order of several meters in the case of major earthquakes. Ground rupture
is a major risk for large engineering structures such as dams, bridges and nuclear power stations and requires
careful mapping of existing faults to identify any which are likely to break the ground surface within the life of
the structure.
Differential settlement
Differential settlement however, is when a building's piers or foundation settles
unequally. Differential settlement can result in damage to the structure, and is therefore, of concern. Differential
settlement occurs when the soil beneath the structure expands, contracts or shifts away due to earthquake.
The settlement of a structure is the amount that the structure will sink during and after
construction. This may lead to structural damage or in some cases destruction of the structure. It is usually
caused by a change in soil structure or poor drainage conditions in the soil, which may cause some places to
compact more than others. Most recommendations for maintenance and some methods of repair or
reinforcement relate back to the need to prevent differential settlement.
Landslides and avalanches
Earthquakes, along with severe storms, volcanic activity, coastal wave attack, and
wildfires, can produce slope instability leading to landslides, a major geological hazard. Landslide danger may
persist while emergency personnel are attempting rescue.
Fires
Earthquakes can cause fires by damaging electrical power or gas lines. In the event of
water mains rupturing and a loss of pressure, it may also become difficult to stop the spread of a fire once it has
started. For example, more deaths in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake were caused by fire than by the
earthquake itself.
Soil liquefaction
Soil liquefaction occurs when, because of the shaking, water-saturated granular material
(such as sand) temporarily loses its strength and transforms from a solid to a liquid. Soil liquefaction may cause
rigid structures, like buildings and bridges, to tilt or sink into the liquefied deposits. For example, in the 1964
Alaska earthquake, soil liquefaction caused many buildings to sink into the ground, eventually collapsing upon
themselves.
Tsunami
Tsunamis are long-wavelength, long-period sea waves produced by the sudden or abrupt
movement of large volumes of water. In the open ocean the distance between wave crests can surpass 100
kilometers (62 mi), and the wave periods can vary from five minutes to one hour. Such tsunamis travel 600-
800 kilometers per hour (373497 miles per hour), depending on water depth. Large waves produced by an
earthquake or a submarine landslide can overrun nearby coastal areas in a matter of minutes. Tsunamis can also
travel thousands of kilometers across Open Ocean and wreak destruction on far shores hours after the
earthquake that generated them.
Ordinarily, subduction earthquakes under magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale do not cause tsunamis, although
some instances of this have been recorded. Most destructive tsunamis are caused by earthquakes of magnitude
7.5 or more.
Floods
A flood is an overflow of any amount of water that reaches land. Floods occur usually
when the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, exceeds the total capacity of the
formation, and as a result some of the water flows or sits outside of the normal perimeter of the body. However,
floods may be secondary effects of earthquakes, if dams are damaged. Earthquakes may cause landslips to dam
rivers, which collapse and cause floods,
The terrain below the Sarez Lake in Tajikistan is in danger of catastrophic flood if the landslide dam formed by
the earthquake, known as the Usoi Dam, were to fail during a future earthquake. Impact projections suggest the
flood could affect roughly 5 million people.
Human impacts
An earthquake may cause injury and loss of life, road and bridge damage,
general property damage, and collapse or destabilization (potentially leading to future collapse) of buildings.
The aftermath may bring disease, lack of basic necessities, mental consequences such as panic attacks,
depression to survivors, and higher insurance premiums.