DEFINITIONS

EPICENTRE: It is the point on the (free) surface of the earth vertically above the origin place (hypocentre) of an earthquake. This point is expressed by geographical latitude and longitude.

MAGNITUDE : It is a quantity to measure the size of an earthquake in terms of its energy and is independent of the place of observation.

RICHTER SCALE : Magnitude is measured on the basis of ground motion recorded by an instrument and applying standard correction for the epicentral distance from recording station. It is related with the logarithm of amount of energy released by an earthquake and expressed in Richter Scale.

INTENSITY: It is the rating of the effect of an earthquake at a particular place, based on the observations of the damaged areas, using a descriptive scale like Modified Mercalli Scale.