You are right in that not all earthquakes act alike - I think that every region might have its own 'style' of earthquakes - there are some major differences up front with just the basic fault type - is it a subduction area or a transform? Normal faulting versus strike-slip or reverse thrust?

You can't necessarily say that there is one method for all types of earthquakes - I think it might come down to 'personalities' of a fault zone.

Canie