Macroseismic Intensities from the 19 September 2017 Mw 7.1 Puebla–Morelos Earthquake

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present an analysis of the information collected by the ¿Sintió un sismo? (SUS) web‐based system. One of the most devastating events in central Mexico in the past 35 yr struck near the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos on 19 September 2017. At the moment of the event, several programs and projects were in place to monitor and perform quick assessments of the magnitude of the earthquake and the severity of its effects on the population and infrastructure. The SUS platform gathers questionnaires designed in Spanish to estimate macroseismic intensities. The availability of such a system in the dominant language of the country permits a broad reach, only limited by the disparity of the services and internet access. By analyzing residuals of the median attenuation intensity of the event, we confirm previous observations on the site and regional effects in Central Mexico such as the strong influence of the Trans‐Mexican volcanic belt on the ground‐motion amplification. In addition, we obtained correlations between peak parameters and macroseismic intensities that reveal the character of the affected structures’ responses. We emphasize the potential usability of systems similar to the SUS at the regional level and their impact on the decision‐making process and support for further research using all available datasets.