Measuring Earthquake

[quaker]

Hi
I recently learned that in Japan earthquakes (of which
there seem to be alot) are measured in both Magnitude and something called
Shindo.
Could anyone tell me what that measures?
And is their a conversion to magnitude?
Thanks
Jeff

[Dave Fossett]

"quaker" <sha...@quake.com> wrote:

Shindo corresponds to "intensity". While the magnitude of an earthquake is
an absolute measure of its power, the intensity indicates the strength of
the earthquake at a particular location and therefore differs according to
distance from the epicentre. Intensity is more relevant to people on the
ground as this is what they actually feel.

--
Dave Fossett
Saitama, Japan

[Travers Naran]

I noticed this also happens for earthquakes in North America, but
usually doesn't get reported. I found it on the USGS site when trying
to find out about that Seattle quake from a couple years back. The USGS
produces "intensity" maps.

--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Travers Naran | Visit the SFTV Science Blunders
F/T Programmer,P/T Meddler In Time&Space | Hall of Infamy!
New Westminster, British Columbia, |
Canada, Earth, Milky Way, etc. | <www.geocities.com/naran500/>
"Stand Back! I'm a programmer!" |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[mr.sumo snr.]

"Dave Fossett" <re...@via.newsgroup> wrote in message
news:lPJcb.559$SG6...@news1.dion.ne.jp...

Funny, I thought they used the 'NHK' sliding scale of intensity which sadly
appears to have just two settings. Low intensity - a small on-screen
caption appears during regular programming - followed by a news bulletin at
the end of the show. High intensity - all programs are canceled
indefinitely - replaced by non-stop news about the earthquake (bi-lingual
commentary of course, which drones on endlessly about the 'Japanese' scale
of earthquake measurement - as if it really matters! If you're alive and
the house is still standing then how powerful the damn quake was is of no
real consequence).

I forgot about cut-away shots of waves breaking on the coastline - like
watching paint dry.

--
jonathan
--
"Never give a gun to ducks"

[mtfe...@netmapsonscape.net]

Geologists use something called "ground acceleration", which, when combined
with duration, gives the best measurement of actual power of the quake.

Mike