Geology

Epicentre

Epicentre

Epicentre: A place on the surface of the earth located at the shortest distance from the focus of the earthquake, the point at which the seismic energy gets released. It is the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.

The point within the crust where the force is unrestricted is called the focus. The point on the Earth’s surface above the focus is called the epicentre. Earthquake force is unrestricted by seismic waves. These waves extend out from the focus.

In most earthquakes, the epicenter is the points where the furthermost harm takes place, but the length of the subsurface fault burst might certainly be a long one, and harm can be extended on the surface across the whole burst zone. As an example, in the scale 7.9 2002 Denali earthquake in Alaska, the epicenter was at the western end of the burst, but the maximum damage was about 330 km away at the eastern end.