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Spatial distribution of felt intensities for New Zealand earthquakes

1978; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00288306.1978.10424059

1175-8791

Warwick D. Smith,

Seismic Waves and Analysis

Abstract The isoseismals of shallow earthquakes in New Zealand exhibit three classes of intensity decay with distance, each characteristic of a particular geographical region. The calculation of the likely intensity at any place due to an earthquake whose location and magnitude are specified uses an empirical formula appropriate to the region in which the shock is located, and also the ellipticity of the isoseismals, a parameter which varies throughout the country. The formula for deep earthquakes incorporates the offset of the isoseismals from the epicentre and their ellipticity, both modelled as functions of focal depth. The calculation of intensity has a standard error of about one unit and is a useful tool for estimation of earthquake risk.