Conversion between Peak Ground Motion Parameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity Values

A model developed recently for conversion of instrumental data to Modified Mercalli Intensity data in North America has been evaluated in this study which employed strong motion recordings and matching Intensity data from ten Iranian earthquakes. Iranian data has also been used to develop new expressions for estimation of Intensity values for various peak ground motion parameters. Importantly, predictions from the new expression with peak ground velocity as the predictor is consistent with those from well-published models developed from data collected in North America. The demonstrated generality of existing conversion relationships has important implications to damage assessment across the globe.