Correlation between surface damage and the coseismic displacement and stress relaxation of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake

Various types of damage caused by the devastating 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan eart hquake were not only experienced in the hanging wall and footwall but also in the southern and northern parts of the Chelungpu fault. In this paper, w e determine the coseismic displacements and determine stress relaxation usi ng a rupture model and compare the values with surface damage. The patterns of damage can be clearly correlated with the calculated coseismic displace ment and stress relaxation caused by the event. It is found that the surfac e damage was predominately caused by coseismic deformation and that large-s cale landslides were mainly a result of steep coseismic displacements.