When the level of damage and the strength of an earthquake are placed on a scatter graph they can often show no correlation. This essay will explore reasons for why this is and will also explain reasons where this is not the case. .
Many people would think that the stronger the earthquake is, the more damage it will cause. This is true for the less strong earthquakes under around 6 on the Richter scale. These earthquakes are quite frequent but no not cause much damage. The amount of damage depends on many various factors. Some of these are physical, and some are human activity. The physical factors include the geology and the depth of the focus. An example of this is the earthquake that happened in Mexico City. The Mexico City earthquake occurred on September 19 1985. It was about 7:30am when the city was hit by an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was located 50km off the coast of Mexico. The reason that Mexico City was so badly affected is because the area lies on very soft ground as a result of being built on a dried-up lake. The soft land wobbled like a jelly making the level of damage much worse. Human activity also plays a huge part in the amount of damage. If an earthquake occurs in the middle of the sea the level of damage may be less, and a densely populated area will have more damage than a sparsely populated area. An example of this is the Kobe earthquake which happened on Tuesday 17th January 1995 at 5:46am. The Kobe earthquake of 1995 caused a lot of destruction as the place was very highly populated and there was a lot of industry and transport to destroy. An earthquake of this size would not have caused as much damage in an LEDC as they would have less densely populated areas and no major transport routes to destroy. How prepared the people are and the quality of buildings affect the amount of damage and so does the time of day and year. San Francisco is well prepared for earthquakes.