is the greatest intensity of an earthquake always found at the epicenter
In most earthquakes, the epicenter is the point where the greatest damage takes place, but the length of the subsurface fault rupture may indeed be a long one, and damage can be spread on the surface across the entire rupture zone. As an example, in the magnitude 7.9 2002 Denali earthquake in Alaska, the epicenter was at the western end of the rupture, but the greatest damage was about 330 km away at the eastern end. Focal depths of earthquakes occurring in continental crust mostly range from 2 to 20 km.Continental earthquakes below 20 km are rare whereas in subduction zones earthquakes can originate at depths deeper than 600 km.
Epicenter