In Earthquake what is Intensity? what is magnitude?
By TriGyn03
@TriGyn03 (84)
Philippines
February 6, 2012 8:03pm CST
Yesterday February 6, 2012 past 10:30 am we just experienced an earthquake.Malls, schools, stores and houses were shook by a 6.9 magnitude quake. People ran out of their houses, schools, offices including us, and headed to the street. They were also a tsunami panic because of what happened. almost more than 40 aftershocks recorded by the PHIVOCS and 43 were claimed dead by the incident. The scene is so scary. People here were little bit confuse on how strong the quake was because of the term intensity and magnitude they used. What is intensity level? and what is magnitude??
1 person likes this
3 responses
@agmamayo (804)
• Philippines
7 Feb 12
Earthquakes also known as quake, tremor, and temblor is a result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Seismism or seismic activity refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. Moment magnitude or magnitude in simpler terms is the most common scale on which earthquakes larger than approximately 5 are reported globally. The smaller and more numerous earthquakes smaller than 5 are reported locally and referred to as "intensity" based on the Richter scale. Intensity is a term wherein the size of the earthquake is measured through observation of the effects of the shock at the earth's surface.
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
19 Apr 12
Very good answer. I think we should also check on the 2 kinds of scales there are. The Richter scale is objective as seismic activity. But there is also another scale, the Mercalli scale, that measures the effect of a certain earthquake in the population. That has to do with mankind. Part of what is explained at the Wikipedia says that the Mercalli" scale quantifies the effects of an earthquake on the Earth's surface, humans, objects of nature, and man-made structures on a scale from I (not felt) to XII (total destruction)"
@yanzalong (18987)
• Indonesia
7 Feb 12
Intensity refers to the strenght or shake that triggers the quake, while the magnitude relates how far (in square miles) the quake can destroy.
