Earthquake intensity

In this activity, students study damage descriptions from earthquakes and allocate a Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) number.

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• understand the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale

• look at damage descriptions of historic New Zealand earthquakes and allocate Modified Mercalli Intensity scale numbers to them

• understand the difference between magnitude and intensity of earthquakes.

Caution road out ahead

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This shows some of the destruction caused by the Inangahua earthquake in 1968, one of New Zealand’s well known historical earthquakes.

Rights: GNS Science Limited, Lloyd Homer

Download the Word file (see link below) for:

• introduction/background

• what you need

• what to do

• discussion questions

• simplified New Zealand Modified Mercalli Intensity scale

• information about 6 New Zealand earthquakes.