Seismic Hazard: Understanding Earthquakes

This lecture delves into the origin of earthquakes, exploring tectonic and artificial causes, the Earth's layers, and the lithosphere's tectonic plates. It explains how convection currents in the mantle generate seismic activity and the different types of plate boundaries. The instructor introduces seismic hazard, defining it as a potentially damaging phenomenon induced by earthquakes. The lecture covers ground shaking, recording methods, and earthquake measurement through magnitude scales. It discusses the intensity of earthquakes, both observationally and instrumentally, and how seismic hazard is expressed through location, intensity, and frequency. The presentation concludes with the concept of seismic hazard maps and the main points of the lecture.