2.4.Earthquakes
Earthquakes are one of nature’s most damaging hazards. Earthquakes, and the potential damage from earthquakes, are more widespread that people realize. Earthquakes are caused by the release of strain between or within the Earth’s tectonic plates. The severity of an earthquake depends on the amount of strain, or energy, that is released along a fault or at the epicenter of an earthquake. The energy released by an earthquake is sent to the earth’s surface and released.
There are several common measures of earthquakes, including the Richter Scale and the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale. The Richter Scale is a measurement of the magnitude, or the amount of energy released by an earthquake. Magnitude is measured by seismographs. The Modified Mercalli Intensity is an observed measurement of the earthquake’s intensity felt at the earth’s surface. The MMI varies, depending on the observer’s location to the earthquake’s epicenter.
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