What is Recurrence Interval

Formation of surface rupture zone along active faults buried directly beneath major cities create devastating earthquakes that seriously threaten the safety of human lives. Surface rupture microzonation (SRM) is the generic name for subdividing a region into individual areas having different potentials hazardous earthquake effects, defining their specific seismic behavior for engineering design and land-use planning in case a large devastating earthquake strikes the region. The basis of SRM is to model the rupture zone at the epicenter of an earthquake, and thus develop a hazard-avoid map indicating the vulnerability of the area to potential seismic hazard. Earthquake hazard assessment of active faults in urban areas are thus an important systematic engineering for disaster mitigation in major cities.