Quick look isoseismal map of 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake

摘要

The isoseismal map for the devastating M 7.6 Kashmir earthquake of 8 October 2005 is constructed based on the immediate damage scenario provided by the teachers trained under the Himalayan School Earthquake Laboratory Programme as well as that reported in electronic and print media. The nature of the damage pattern imprinted on different vulnerable classes of buildings at some 80 sites enabled to map out intensity distribution in earthquake-affected region to a value above IV on the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98). The isoseismal map provides a fair picture of the distribution of ground-shaking effects to distant places. This would serve as a useful guide in future earthquake hazard assessment in the region. The Kashmir valley was widely affected and the meizoseismal zone encompassing the township of Balakot and Muzzafrabad experienced a maximum intensity of XI on the EMS-98 scale. The use of this maximum intensity and the dimension of the area covered by isoseismal VI in the well-establishedintensity–focal depth and intensity–moment relations respectively, allowed for estimating the focal depth and the magnitude. Since in the present approach, the map is prepared based on the damage scenario immediately after the main shock, it will be free from biases due the subsequent damages caused by aftershocks that advertently tend to contaminate the maps prepared by conventional field surveys.