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Rational formulation of engineering decisions in seismic areas requires quantitative descriptions of seismicity. These descriptions should conform with their intended applications: in some instances, simultaneous intensities during each earthquake have to be predicted at several locations, while in others it suffices to make independent evaluations of the probable effects of earthquakes at each of those locations. The second model is adequate for the selection of design parameters of individual components of a regional system (the structures in a region or country) when no significant interaction exists between response or damage of several such individual components, or between any of them and the system as a whole. In other words, it applies when the damage—or negative utility—inflicted upon the system by an earthquake can be taken simply as the addition of the losses in the individual components. The …