AbstractThe INQUA Environmental Seismic intensity scale (ESI 2007 scale) is a new seismic intensity scale proposed by the Subcommission on Palaeoseismology, INQUA, based on seismically induced ground effects. This intensity scale is expected to be useful for evaluation of detailed areal distribution of seismic intensity and also for the evaluation of intensity of palaeoearthquakes. We selected four great earthquakes to map ESI 2007 scale distribution: the 1995 Kobe; the 2004 Chuetsu, Japan; the 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung; and the 1999 Chichi, Taiwan. Proposed ESI 2007 scale maps from these areas are the mesh maps with a grid of about 1 km2, showing more detailed intensity patterns than those previously provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Central Weather Bureau for the four areas. Different responses of ground effects to the earthquakes, depending on local differences of geological materials near the surface and morphological condition of each site, are more clearly expressed by the ESI 2007 scale map, because of the large number of observed sites by the evaluation of ESI 2007 scale. Calibration exercise also reveals, however, that the classification of ESI 2007 scale needs some improvement.