Murphy Scale: A locational equivalent intensity scale for hazard events

Area of Science:

• Disaster Risk Science
• Geoscience
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Assessing disaster vulnerability, resilience, and risk across different hazard types necessitates a unified metric for hazard intensity.
• Existing metrics are often hazard-specific, limiting cross-hazard comparisons and integrated risk analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Murphy Scale, an equivalent intensity scale for cross-hazard evaluation of event strengths.
• To establish a methodology for deriving equivalent hazard intensities applicable to diverse event types.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review and typology of existing hazard strength metrics were conducted.
• An empirical methodology was developed to calculate equivalent intensities on the proposed Murphy Scale.
• Historical data (2013-2017) for earthquakes and tropical cyclones were used for validation.

Main Results:

• The study demonstrates the utility of the Murphy Scale methodology for computing equivalent intensities for earthquakes and tropical cyclones.
• The proposed scale provides a foundational tool for the emerging field of hazard equivalency.
• Equivalent intensities were empirically derived for selected historical events.

Conclusions:

• The Murphy Scale facilitates the creation of multi-hazard maps by enabling standardized hazard strength evaluation.
• This scale enhances hazard communication, improving multi-hazard preparedness, mitigation, and emergency response strategies.
• The research lays the groundwork for integrated multi-hazard risk assessment and management.