Re-estimating the epicenter of the 1927 Jericho earthquake using spatial distribution of intensity data

We present a new approach for re-estimating an epicenter of historical earthquake using the spatial distribution of intensity data. We use macroseismic data related to the 1927 Jericho earthquake since this is the first strong earthquake recorded by modern seismographs and is also well documented by historical evidence and reports. The epicenter is located in two sequential steps: (1) Correction of previously-evaluated seismic intensities in accordance with the local site-attributes: construction quality, topographic slope, groundwater level, and surface geology; (2) Spatial correlation of these intensities with a logarithmic variant of the epicentral distance. The resulted location (approximated to 35.5°/31.8°) is consistent with the seismogram-based location calculated by Avni et al. (2002) and also of Ben Menahem et al. (1976) with a spatial error of 50 km. The proposed method suggests an additional approach to the formers based mainly upon spatial analysis of intensity data.

► Correction of pre-evaluated seismic intensity using local site-attributes. ► The use of logarithmic attenuation between intensity and epicentral distance. ► New method for re-estimating an epicenter using spatial analysis of macroseismic data.