Estimation of change point and compound Poisson process parameters for the earthquake data in Turkey

The existence of change point in the Turkish earthquake data is investigated. For this purpose, the 218 earthquake data of magnitude 5 and higher, between the north (39.00–42.00°) and the east (26.00–45.00°) coordinates in Turkey from 12 July 1900 to 28 February 2007 are used. The characteristic function of the magnitude is derived. Poisson distribution is used to describe the recurrence times. In addition, using the compound Poisson process, the expected value and variance are estimated and computed for the loss of life and damaged buildings after the change point. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.