5 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE EXTENT OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE
Earthquake is a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action. In other words you can define an earthquake as a sudden movement of the earth's crust caused by the release of stress accumulated along geologic faults or by volcanic activity . Earthquakes cause many different kinds of damage depending on: The magnitude of the earthquake —in general, the larger the quake, the stronger the shaking and the larger the area affected. The distance from the earthquake —the closer to the source of the earthquake , the greater the shaking. The type of ground material beneath the structure — soils may amplify or deamplify the shaking relative to hard bedrock. and the building construction. Level of development of particular country A given Richter reading will produce vastly different amounts of damage in different parts ...