The minimalist model of characteristic earthquakes as a useful tool for description of the recurrence of large earthquakes

Renewal models are usually applied to seismic regions where large earthquakes occur repeatedly at approximately regular time intervals. In most cases, these models lack a seismological basis and are just well known statistical distributions rooted in reliability theory. Here, we show the good properties of the recently introduced minimalist model of characteristic earthquakes to describe the recurrence of these large earthquakes. Several examples in Japan, Italy, and the United States are shown.