Earthquake Intensity—What controls the shaking you feel?

IRIS-USGS collaboration
Although often confused with each other, INTENSITY describes what is felt during an earthquake whereas MAGNITUDE is the measured size of the earthquake. This animation describes and gives examples of the factors that affect intensity.
Animation and graphics by Jenda Johnson, geologist, Earth Sciences Animated
Narrated by Wendy Bohon, Informal Education Specialist, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
Written and edited by Robert Butler, geophysicist, University of Portland; and Robert de Groot, physical scientist, U.S. Geological Survey
Reviewed by Wendy Bohon, Informal Education Specialist; and David Wald, geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey
ShakeMap intensity maps from the United States Geological Survey
Newsroom footage courtesy of KTLA Los Angeles (http://ktla.com)
Kathmandu security video footage from "Nepal Earthquake 2015," YouTube Channel
1906 San Francisco footage from the National Archives (www.archives.gov/)
“The Loma Prieta Earthquake” footage from California Highway Patrol, Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (https://archive.org)
Shake Table experiment with permission from CUREE (Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering; www.curee.org/)
Images of seismic intensity from Japan Meteorological Agency (http://www.jma.go.jp/)
Photographs from the United States Geological Survey
Maps from Google Earth
Inscencer, musician/artist PCIII (freemusicarchive.org/)
Made possible by support from the National Science Foundation