Macroseismic Surveys in Theory and Practice

Macroseismology is the part of seismology that collects and evaluates non-instrumental data on earthquakes, i.e., effects on people, objects, buildings and nature. The methods that seismologists use for collecting and evaluating the macroseismic data are often based on long (trial-and-error) experience more than on some formal procedure. Until very recently manuals or guidelines on how to do a macroseismic survey were rare and often superficial. After an earthquake is felt in some region, the data are usually collected by means of questionnaires. Field survey is an obligatory tool that complements the questionnaires in the case of a damaging earthquake. An overview of the approaches to deriving the earthquake parameters (epicentre and barycentre, epicentral intensity, magnitude, depth, source parametres) from macroseismic data, as well as a review of some existing practices is given.