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China seismic intensity scale

Earthquake intensity scale

The China seismic intensity scale is a national standard of the People's Republic of China used to measure seismic intensity. Similar to EMS-92 on which CSIS drew reference, seismic impacts are classified into 12 degrees of intensity, or liedu (, literally "degrees of violence") in Roman numerals from I for insensible to XII for landscape reshaping.

The scale was initially formalized by the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) in 1980, therefore often referred to by its original title as "China Seismic Intensity Scale (1980)". It was later revised, and adopted as a national standard, or Guobiao, series GB/T 17742-1999 by then National Quality and Technology Supervision Administration (now General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of P.R.C., AQSIQ) in 1999.{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029013249/http://www.dccdnc.ac.cn/html/zcfg/gfxwj2.jsp | archive-date=2008-10-29 | url-status=dead The standard was set for revision not long before the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.{{cite web

''Liedu'' scale

Unlike the magnitude scales that objectively estimate the released seismic energy, liedu denotes how strongly an earthquake affects a specific place. It is determined by a combination of subjective evaluations (such as human senses and building damage) and objective kinetic measures. Building damage are further refined with a combination of descriptive qualifiers and a numeric evaluation process.

The following is an unofficial translation of the Appendix I of GB/T 17742-1999.

Liedu (Intensity)	Senses by people on the ground	Degree of building damage	Other damage	Horizontal motion on the ground
Insensible
Sensible by very few still indoor people
Sensible by a few still indoor people	Slight rattle of doors and windows		Slight swing of suspended objects
Sensible by most people indoors, a few people outdoors; a few wake up from sleep	Rattle of doors and windows		Obvious swing of suspended objects; vessels rattle
Commonly sensible by people indoors, sensible by most people outdoors; most wake up from sleep	Noise from vibration of doors, windows, and building frames; falling of dusts, small cracks in plasters, falling of some roof tiles, bricks falling from a few roof-top chimneys		Rocking or flipping of unstable objects	0.31
(0.22 – 0.44)	0.03
(0.02 – 0.04)
Most unable to stand stably, a few scared to running outdoors	Damage – Cracks in the walls, falling of roof tiles, some roof-top chimneys crack or fall apart	0 – 0.10	Cracks in river banks and soft soil; occasional burst of sand and water from saturated sand layers; cracks on some standalone chimneys	0.63
(0.45 – 0.89)	0.06
(0.05 – 0.09)
Majority scared to running outdoors, sensible by bicycle riders and people in moving motor vehicles	Slight destruction – localized destruction, crack, may continue to be used with small repairs or without repair	0.11 – 0.30	Collapse of river banks; frequent burst of sand and water from saturated sand layers; many cracks in soft soils; moderate destruction of most standalone chimneys	1.25
(0.90 – 1.77)	0.13
(0.10 – 0.18)
Most swing about, difficult to walk	Moderate destruction – structural destruction occurs, continued usage requires repair	0.31 – 0.50	Cracks appear in hard dry soils; severe destruction of most standalone chimneys; tree tops break; death of people and cattle caused by building destruction	2.50
(1.78 – 3.53)	0.25
(0.19 – 0.35)
Moving people fall	Severe destruction – severe structural destruction, localized collapse, difficult to repair	0.51 – 0.70	Many cracks in hard dry soils; possible cracks and dislocations in bedrock; frequent landslides and collapses; collapse of many standalone chimneys	5.00
(3.54 – 7.07)	0.50
(0.36 – 0.71)
Bicycle riders may fall; people in unstable state may fall away; sense of being thrown up	Most collapse	0.71 – 0.90	Cracks in bedrock and earthquake fractures; destruction of bridge arches founded in bedrock; foundation damage or collapse of most standalone chimneys	10.00
(7.08 – 14.14)	1.00
(0.72 – 1.41)
	Widespread collapse	0.91 – 1.00	Earthquake fractures extend a long way; many bedrock cracks and landslides
			Drastic change in landscape, mountains, and rivers

Notes about qualifiers: "very few" – 90%.

Applications

Historic local seismic liedu is an important reference in quake proofing existing and future buildings. The national standard Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB 500011-2001) published in 2001 and partially revised shortly after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake includes a list of liedu that each building in designated cities is expected to resist.{{cite web

References

Effectively this only applies to [[mainland China]]. [[Hong Kong]] and [[Taiwan]] each use a different intensity scale. See [[Seismic intensity scales]] for more details.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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