What is Earthquake?

An Earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the earth caused by the breaking and shifting of rocks beneath the earth surface. Over time, stresses build beneath the Earths surface. Occasionally, stress is released resulting in the sudden, and sometime disastrous shaking we call an earthquake. The shaking could last seconds or minutes, and there may be several earthquakes over a period ranging from hours to weeks called foreshocks and after shocks, the later decreasing in magnitude with time.

The Earth

What Causes Earthquake:

The sudden slip at the fault causes the earthquake.a violent shaking of the Earth when large elastic strain energy released spreads out through seismic waves that travel through the body and along the surface of the Earth.

WHAT IS A FAULT? Earthquakes occur on faults. A fault is a thin zone of crushed rock between two blocks of rock, and can be any length, from centimeters to thousands of kilometers. When an earthquake occurs on one of these faults, the rock on one side of the fault slips with respect to the other. The fault surface can be vertical, horizontal, or at some angle to the surface of the earth. The slip direction can also be at any angle. We classify these into two basic cases: strikeslip and dip-slip motion.

Measuring the shaking

Magnitude is a measurement of the energy produced by the earthquake and is not what you feel during the event. What you feel is very complex-hard or gentle, long or short, jerky or rolling--and not describable with one number. Aspects of the motion are described by the peak velocity (how fast the ground is moving), peak acceleration (how quickly the speed of the ground is changing), the frequency (energy is released in waves and these waves vibrate at different frequencies just like sound waves), and the duration (how long the strong shaking lasts). Three factors primarily determine what you feel in an earthquake. These are: 1) magnitude; 2) distance from the fault; and 3) local soil conditions.

MAGNITUDE When scientists refer to a "great"earthquake, they do not mean the earthquake was fabulous, they mean it was huge. Informally, earthquakes are classified according to their magnitude size: under 5 small 5 - 6 moderate 6 - 7 large 7 - 7.8 major 7.8 or above great Intensity Intensity is a qualitative measure of the actual shaking at a location during an earthquake, and is assigned as Roman Capital Numerals. There are many intensity scales. Two commonly used ones are the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) Scale and the MSK Scale. Both scales are quite similar and range from I- (least perceptive) to XII(most severe). The intensity scales are based on three features of shaking. perception by people and animals, performance of buildings, and changes to natural surroundings.

Basic Difference: Magnitude versus Intensity Magnitude of an earthquake is a measure of its size. For instance, one can measure the size of an Earthquake by the amount of strain energy released by the fault rupture. This means that the magnitude of the earthquake is a single value for a given earthquake. On the other hand, intensity is an indicator of the severity of shaking generated at a given location. Clearly, the severity of shaking is much higher near the epicenter than farther away. Thus, during the same earthquake of a certain magnitude, different locations experience different levels of intensity.

How the Ground Shakes?

Seismic Waves Large strain energy released during an earthquake travels as seismic waves in all directions through the Earths layers, reflecting and refracting at each interface. These waves are of two types body waves and surface waves; the latter are restricted to near the Earths surface Body waves consist of Primary Waves (P-waves) and Secondary Waves (S-waves), and surface waves consist of Love waves and Rayleigh waves.

Focal Pont: The point on the fault where slip starts is the Focus or Hypocenter, and the point vertically above this on the surface of the Earth is the Epicenter. The depth of focus from the epicenter, called as Focal Depth, is an important parameter in determining the damaging potential of an earthquake. Most of the damaging earthquakes have shallow focus with focal depths less than about 70km. Distance from epicenter to any point of interest is called epicentral distance.

What are the Seismic effects on structures?

How Building Twist during the Earthquake?

Hazard Vulnerability in Gujarat

100% of land vulnerable to Earthquakes
11 % of Land liable to severe earthquake( Intensity MSK VIIXmore)- Kachchh Area 9 % of Land liable to severe earthquake( Intensity MSK V-VIII) Banaskantha, jam nagar, Surendranagar

79.2 % of Land liable to severe earthquake( Intensity MSK III-VI)

Vulnerability to Earthquake -Gujarat

EARTHQUAKE ZONE AREA - GUJARAT STATE
DHANERA THARAD DANTIWADA AMIRGADH DEESA KHEDBRAHMA VAV PART OF VAV PALANPUR DANTA DEODAR VIJAYNAGAR VADGAM VADALI SIDHPUR KHERALU PATAN UNJHA IDAR BHILODA HARIJ PART OF RADHANPUR VISNAGAR LAKHPAT SAMI CHANASMA VIJAPURHIMATNAGAR RAPAR MAHESANA PART OF SANTALPUR PRANTIJ MODASA BHUJ BECHARAJI MANSA MEGHRAJ NAKHATRANA PART OF BHACHAU TALOD MALPUR KADANA MANDAL BHACHAU KADI VIRPAR DASADA ABDASA SANTRAMPUR KALOL DEHGAM BAYAD LUNAWADA FATEPURA ANJAR MUD VIRAMGAM AHMADABAD KAPADVANJ JHALOD HALVAD MANDVI MALIYA GANDHIDHAM SANAND DASKROIKATHLAL SHEHERA DHRANGADHRA MUNDRA MORVI DAHOD LAKHTAR MEHMEDABAD JODIYA THASRA GODHRA LIMKHEDA KHEDA BAVLA NADIAD MULI WADHWAN DHANPUR DHOLKA LIMBDI WANKANER DEVGAD BARIA DHROL ANAND SAVLI MATAR TANKARA HALOL CHUDA ANKLAV JAMNAGAR PADDHARI CHHOTA UDAIPUR KHAMBHAT SAYLA BORSAD VAGHODIA DHANDHUKA JETPUR PAVI CHOTILA RAJKOT RANPUR VADODARA OHKAMANDALKHAMBHALIA SANKHEDA LALPUR BOTADBARWALA PADRA KALAVADLODHIKA DABHOI JAMBUSAR KALYANPUR KAVANT PART OF KOTDA SANG JASDAN BHANVAD NASVADI VALLABHIPUR KARJAN GONDAL JAMJODHPUR TILAKWADA GADHADA AMOD MUL BANK BABRA JAMKANDORNA RAJPIPLA UMRALABHAVNAGAR PORBANDAR VAGRABHARUCH UPLETA JETPUR JHAGADIA LATHI RANAVAV DHORAJI SIHOR VADIA DEDIAPADA ANKLESVAR AMRELI GARIADHAR KUTIYANA BHESAN GHOGHA VALIA LILIA SAGBARA NIZAR HANSOT JUNAGADH PALITANA BAGASARA MANGROL UMARPADA MANAVADAR VISAVADAR TALAJA OLPAD SAVARKUNDLA KESHOD UCHCHHAL DHARI KAMREJ MENDARDA SONGADH MAHUVA BARDOLI KHAMBHA MALIA TALALA CHORASI RAJULA VYARAPART OF THE DANGS PATAN VERAVAL JALALPORE UNA JAFRABAD KODINAR GANDEVI DANG CHIKHLI PART OF PADDHARI VALSAD BANSDA KANKREJ RANN OF KACHCHH SANTALPUR BHABHER

IV

II

III

Taluka Boundary Earthquake Zone II III IV V

External Boundaries are not authenticated. Data source : RESECO,Gandhinagar Prep By : GSDMA Gandhinagar

DHARAMPUR PARDI UMBERGAON KAPRADA PART OF KAPRADA