Lesson 8.

Earthquakes
The areas surrounding the
Pacific Ocean experience
high amounts of volcanism
and seismic activity.

This region, known as the

Ring of Fire, includes the
Philippines.
 Due to the high seismic activity,
these countries are prone to
earthquakes and the damage that
they can cause.

What are the different parts of

an earthquake and how do we
measure its strength?
At the end of this lesson, the given DepEd learning
competency should be met by the students.

Differentiate the epicenter of an earthquake from its focus,

intensity of an earthquake from its magnitude, and active
and inactive faults (S8ES-IIa-15).
● Explain how earthquakes are generated.
● Differentiate the epicenter of an earthquake from
its focus, intensity of an earthquake from its
magnitude, and active and inactive faults.
● Explain how an earthquake generates a tsunami.
Let’s Measure the Shaking
In this activity, you will
simulate earthquake
activity using paper and a
pen.
Earthquakes

● These are shaking of the

Earth’s surface resulting
from the sudden release of
energy.

Seismic waves are released

during earthquakes.
Active Fault vs Inactive Fault
Active Fault
● is a fault where movement or slippage is expected to occur
● marks certain areas that are prone to earthquakes
● forms clear breaks in the soil layers from the surface down
to the bottom

Inactive Fault
● is a fault that has ceased activity for a long time
● does not disturb or break all the layers of the soil
Elastic Limit
● This refers to the threshold of
stress that rock can hold before
it undergo deformation.
● As rocks surpass their elastic
limit, rocks release their stored
potential energy.
Breaking of rocks
Parts of an Earthquake
Hypocenter
● location where the
slippage or movement
took place
Epicenter
● point on the ground
directly above the
hypocenter
Parts of an earthquake
Parts of an Earthquake
Fault Scarp
● an elevated surface caused
by the movement of the fault

Parts of an earthquake
Magnitude
● It refers to the amount of energy released by an earthquake
as the ground shakes.
● The more energetic an earthquake is, the higher the value of
its magnitude.
● Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of an
earthquake.
 Richter Scale
Magnitude Description

Less than 2.0 Micro Only recorded by seismographs

2.0–2.9 Minor Felt by few

3.0–3.9 Minor Felt by few, objects may shake

4.0–4.9 Light Most people feel it, objects shake or fall

5.0–5.9 Moderate Everyone feels it, poorly-built buildings

may be damaged or destroyed

6.0–6.9 Strong Widespread shaking, buildings damaged

7.0–7.9 Major Widespread damage in most areas

8.0–8.9 Great Widespread damage in large areas

9.0–9.9 Great Severe damage to buildings

Seismograph
● It is an instrument that is used
to determine the strength of an
earthquake.
● Triangulation is a process by
which earthquakes are mapped
using several seismographs.

Seismograph
Moment
Magnitude Scale
● This scale
measures the
force needed in
order to
generate the
recorded
seismic waves.
Moment magnitude scale
Moment Magnitude Scale
● It is a measure of the amount of energy of an earthquake
based on property damage
● It is measured on the modified Mercalli Scale.
● PHIVOLCS provides a scale similar to modified Mercalli
called PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale.
Recent large earthquakes across the world
Place Year Magnitude
Indonesia 2004 9.1
Pakistan 2006 7.6
China 2008 7.9
Haiti 2010 7.0
Chile 2010 8.8
Japan 2011 9.0
Nepal 2015 7.8
Mexico 2017 7.1
Japan 2017 6.1
Recent remarkable earthquakes in the Philippines

Place Year Magnitude

Moro Gulf (Mindanao) 1976 8.0
Central Luzon and CAR 1990 7.8
Mindoro 1994 7.1
Negros 2012 6.9
Samar 2012 7.6
Bohol 2013 7.2
Tsunami
● These are harbor waves
or waves that come into
the bay from the ocean.
● These huge destructive
waves are generated
when an earthquake
occurs underwater.
Tsunami
Tsunami
● Not all tsunamis are
generated by underwater
earthquakes.
● Earthquakes occurring
within continents may be
strong enough to displace
water and cause tsunami.
Tsunami
Formation of a Tsunami
Formation of a Tsunami
Tsunami Due to Faults

● Most of the time, reverse or

thrust faults generate
tsunamis.
● Tsunamis require a vertical
push to uplift the water and
start a wave
Tsunami in Krabi, Thailand
Remarkable Tsunamis Recorded
Indian Ocean Earthquake

● happened in 2004 at the west of Indonesia

● magnitude 9.3 earthquake that occurred underwater

● caused by the collision of India Plate and Sunda Plate

● killed more than 230,000 in the 11 coastal countries

Remarkable Tsunamis Recorded
Japan Earthquake

● happened in 2011

● 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Sendai

● caused the destruction of Fukushima power plant

Remarkable Tsunamis Recorded
Moro Gulf Earthquake (Philippines)

● happened in 1976

● caused by movement of the plates along the Cotabato

trench

● a total of 8,000 people died

● Earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by the release of energy
that forms breaks along rock masses, or simply faults. It can either have
tectonic or volcanic origin.
● Earthquakes can be measured through intensity and magnitude scales.
○ Magnitude measures the amount of energy released by an
earthquake. This can either be measured using the Richter Scale or
Moment Magnitude Scale.
○ Intensity measures the amount of damage caused by an earthquake.
Some of the intensity scales include modified Mercalli Scale and
PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale or PEIS.
● Earthquakes can have varying depths such as shallow, intermediate, and
deep.

● A tsunami is composed of huge destructive waves which may be

generated as a consequence of an earthquake event.

● Most tsunamis are related to movements along reverse or thrust faults.

Write true if the statement is correct while write false if
the statement is incorrect.
1. Magnitude is the measure of the energy of an earthquake
based on the amount of shaking and property damage.
2. A modified Mercalli scale is used to determine the intensity
of an earthquake.
3. Hypocenter is also known as the focus of the earthquake.
4. At least one seismograph reading is used to locate the
earthquake's origin.
5. A hypoactive fault is a fault that has ceased activity for a long
period.