Mechanism of Earthquake

Figure 1
The earthquake is classified into two types. One is the oceanic trench type and
What causes earthquakes? the other is the inland type.
They are caused by the movement of plates, which collectively from the earth's The oceanic trench type is the earthquake, which occurs at the plate boundary
crust. between the oceanic and continental plates.
These plates are of various size, and they are very slowly but constantly drifting As shown in Figure 1, the continental plate is pulled by the oceanic plate which
underneath the earth's surface. gets into the continental plate.
When they collide or drag, the pressure causes those plates to distort.

Figure 2
When the distortion reaches the destruction limit, the continental plate jumps in
order to cancel the distortion and the earthquake occurs.
Eventually the pressure reaches its limit causing the plates to jump or crack in
The Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 and the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 are
order to release its energy.
belonging to type. The inland type is the earthquake occurring in the plate, which
This creaates vibration at the surface, known as earthquake.
usually has shallow focal depth.
Japanese islands are located at the intersection of four plates, North American
and Eurasia continental plates as well as Pacific and Philippine Sea plates. It is for
this reason Japan suffers from many earthquakes.
Types of earthquake

Figure 2
This type is also called as near-field earthquake.
This type of earthquake causes considerable damage to the people because it
sometimes occurs near the town, even if the earthquake energy is small.
The active fault is one of the causes of the inland earthquake, so that we
recommend you to understand the active fault in the area where you are living. Unstable ornaments fall occasionally.
The fault types are shown in Figure 2.
The Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995 and the Chuetsu earthquake in 2004 are
Some people find it difficult to move.
belonging to type.
Seismic intensity and magnitude Most unstable ornaments fall.
5-
The terms seismic intensity and magnitude are used in the TV news and Dishes in a cupboard and books on a bookshelf fall.
newspaper, when the earthquake occurs. lower
The seismic intensity is the intensity index of the quake at each observation point, Furniture moves.
which is shown by ten scales and is called as the seismic intensity scale. Windowpanes are broken occasionally.
For the feature of the quake of each level, see Table.
By contrast, magnitude characterizes the size of earthquake by measuring the
energy released. Many people find it difficult to move.
5-
If the seismic intensity is different at the observation points, the magnitude is the Most dishes in a cupboard and most books on a bookshelf fall.
upper
same everywhere.
Furniture fall occasionally.
Under the same magnitude, the seismic intensity is smaller than that near the
epicenter.
In general, the earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 5, 5 to 7, and more than 7 are People find it difficult to keep standing.
named as small, middle and big earthquake. Specially, the earthquake more than 6-
A lot of unfixed furniture moves and falls.
magnitude 8 is called as mega earthquake. lower
If the magnitude becomes 0.2 times bigger, twice energy is released. Less earthquake-resistant houses collapse occasionally.

Seismic
intensity
Feature of the quake People can not keep standing and move without crawling.
6-
Most unfixed furniture moves and falls.
upper
1 People can not feel the quake. Many, less earthquake-resistant houses collapse.

2 Only some people keeping still can feel the quake.
Most people in the building feel the quake.
3 Some people awake.
Hanging objects such as lamp slightly swing.
Most people awake.
4 A measure to represent the size of an earthquake. The great Kanto earthquake
Hanging objects such as lamp considerably swing.
People can not move at will.
7 Most furniture moves to a large extent and some jumps up.
Highly earthquake-resistant buildings collapse occasionally.
Magnitude and seismic intensity
"Magnitude" and "seismic intensity" are broadcasted after an earthquake. They
have the following differences.
1. Magnitude
the cause of the Kanto earthquake disaster was M7.9, and the South Hyogo
prefecture earthquake the cause of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake was
M7.3.
2. Seismic intensity
Seismic intensity is a measure to represent the scale of quaking at a given location
caused by an earthquake.
3. Relationship between magnitude and seismic intensity
The relationship between magnitude and seismic intensity can be likened to the
relationship between the brightness of a light bulb and the brightness on a desk.
The brightness on a desk depends on the position of the desk receiving the light
from the same light bulb. Therefore, an earthquake of a certain magnitude may The hypocentral region is the area where the rocks destroyed at underground,
be of a low seismic intensity for areas far from the seismic center, or a high and the area is depend on the scale of the earthquake.
seismic intensity for areas close to the seismic center. These terms, hypocenter, epicenter, seismic center, and hypocentral region, are
frequently confused, and many people does not understand the differences of
the meaning.
Hypocenter Aftershock

The hypocenter is the underground place where the earthquake occurred.

The place just above the hypocenter on the earths surface is named as the
epicenter.
The seismic center is often used in place of the epicenter, but the term is a slang
word.
When the term epicenter was not so popular, the mass media called it the seismic
center.
"Aftershock" is a little earthquake we had continually after big earthquakes.
On the other hand we call big earthquake we have before having aftershock
"main shock".
Aftershock is considered that, it occurs because of bedrocks being unstable
condition dew to having main shocks.
Aftershock usually occurs immediately after having main shock and its number And the automatic control has made it possible to decrease the time from the
has becoming fewer and fewer properties, in other word, it decays softly. observation to the announcement.
So a lot of people in Japan have had impression that aftershock goes on Therefore, the introduction of the seismic intensity meter has various merits.
indefinitely.
Moreover, "Aftershock area", where aftershock occurs, became wider and wider
over time.
So, in the area which had big tremor has possibility of houses destroyed or
mudslide, we need be carefully strictly.
Such earthquakes have main shock and aftershock is a pattern of earthquake,
what is called "Main shock aftershock" type.
And big earthquake which has shallow hypocenter is mostly main shock-
aftershock type.
By the way, there is a difference pattern of earthquake; its called "Swarm-type".
It doesnt have big tremor remarkably. Measurement unit
But in this pattern, seismicity becomes intense or calm. This unit observes the quake and changes it to the electric signal.
P-waves and S-waves Processing unit
This unit calculates the seismic intensity from the electric signal and shows the
result on the display.
Observation system of the seismic intensity
There are about 4200 observation points, where Japan Meteorological Agency
uses for the announcement of the seismic intensity information.
These seismic intensity meters are maintained and administered by Japan
Meteorological Agency, the local governments for the prefectures, and National
Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED).
Two types of wave travel through the underground from the hypocenter when The observation data is transferred to the weather stations, the prefecture
the earthquake occurs. capitals and NIED by the telephone line and the government disaster prevention
The P-waves are longitudinal waves and the S-waves are transverse waves. radio, and is treated there. The result is offered to Japan Meteorological Agency
The quakes by the P-waves is called as the preliminary tremors and we feel them within several minutes after earthquake.
first. After them, the principal shock by the S-waves occurs.
The time lag of these waves becomes bigger at the place far from the Earthquake warning and alert
hypocenter.
We use this property of the waves to the Earthquake Early Warning .
By the way, the term P-waves is derived from the Latin word: primae, meaning
primary, and the S-waves from the Latin word: secundae, meaning secondary.
Introduction of the seismic intensity meter
The seismic intensity meter has made it possible to observe the seismic intensity
objectively, and the uninhabited observation has stepped up the establishment at
various places.
The warning and alert by Japan Meteorological Agency is the means for calling
attention and caution to the people when the disaster is going to occur.
The alert is issued when there is a possibility of the disaster by heavy rain and
strong wind, and the warning is issued when it is in danger of serious disaster.
They are announced to the relative administrative organs, prefectures and
municipalities, and are used to the disaster measures.

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