MEASURING EARTHQUAKES WHY IS

THIS IMPORTANT?
By Ben Humberdross
EARTHQUAKES WHAT ARE THEY?
An Earthquake is the movement of rock and
snapping of rocks under stress that send
vibrations through the ground.
These vibrations cause a shaking to occur
and can cause damages to property and
lives, as well as cause other natural events
to occur.
EARTHQUAKES HOW DO WE MEASURE THEM?
There are many machines that can measure
Earthquakes some of these are:
- Seismograph (records the Seismic waves created in an earthquake)
- Richter Scale (Measures the intensity of the earthquake)
- Moment Magnitude Scale (Measures the total energy and
seismic movement of the earthquake)


- Seismograph that
records the seismic
waves, can also
determine the location of
the earthquake.
EARTHQUAKES WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO
MEASURE THESE EVENTS?
Measuring earthquakes helps Geologists to start to
predict when and where earthquakes could occur,
they can look at the past 200 years and if a
particular location experiences a large amount of
earthquakes and pressure build up, they can start
to predict these occurrences. However are more
successful at predicting aftershocks that occur.
These particular measurements also aid scientists in
better understanding the movements that occur
below our feet everyday especially those that occur
along the tech-tonic fault lines.
By measuring earthquakes also helps governments
and the people to better prepare for these natural
occurrences, by making sure that a location that
experiences regular earthquakes, buildings are up to
standard and potentially reinforced to with hold
particular magnitudes.

EARTHQUAKES WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO
MEASURE THESE EVENTS? CONT.
EARTHQUAKES - CONCLUSION
As you can see there are many ways in
which Earthquakes can be measured, which
allows the importance to really shine through.
Without these measurements, people,
buildings and scientists would not be able to
be prepared for this sometimes devestating
natural events.