Abstract
This paper discusses comparison of recent observed ground motion parameters of Gorkha Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015 (M w 7.8) with the predicted ground motion parameters using existing attenuation relation of the Himalayan region. The earthquake took about 8000 lives and destroyed thousands of buildings of poor quality, and the earthquake was felt by millions of people living in Nepal, China, India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. The knowledge of ground parameters is very important in developing seismic code of seismic-prone regions like Himalaya for better design of buildings. The ground parameters recorded in recent earthquake event and aftershocks are compared with attenuation relations for the Himalayan region, and the predicted ground motion parameters show good correlation with the observed ground parameters. The results discussed in this paper will be of great use to civil engineers in updating existing building codes in the Himalayan and surrounding regions and also for the evaluation of seismic hazards. The results clearly show that the attenuation relation developed for the Himalayan region should only be used, and other attenuation relations based on other regions fail to provide good estimate of observed ground motion parameters.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrahamson NA, Silva WJ (2008) Summary of the Abrahamson and Sliva NGA ground-motion relations. Earthq Spectra 24(1):67–97
Akkar S, Bommer JJ (2010) Empirical equations for the prediction of PGA, PGV, and spectral accelerations in Europe, the Mediterranean region, and the Middle East. Seismol Res Lett 81:195–206
Aman A, Singh UK, Singh RP (1995) A new empirical relation for strong seismic ground motion for the Himalayan region. Curr Sci 69(9):772–777
Atkinson GM, Boore DM (2006) Earthquake ground-motion prediction equations for eastern North America. Bull Seism Soc Am 96:2181–2205
Bilham R (2015) Seismology: raising kathmandu. Nat Geosci 8:582–584. doi:10.1038/ngeo2498
BIS Code (2002) Earthquake hazard zoning map of India. www.bis.org.in
Bodin P et al (2004) Ground motion scaling in the Kachchh basin, India, deduced from aftershocks of the 2001 Mw 7.6 Bhuj earthquake. Bull Seismol Soc Am 94(5):1658–1669
Boore DM (2009) Comparing stochastic point source and finite-source ground motion simulations: SMSIM and EXSIM. Bull Seism Soc Am 99(6):3202–3216
Boore DM, Atkinson GM (2008) Ground-Motion prediction equations for the average horizontal component of PGA, PGV, and 5 %-Damped PSA at spectral periods between 0.01 and 10.0s. Earthq Spectra 24(1):99–138
Campbell KW, Bozorgia Y (2008) NGA ground motion model for the geometric mean horizontal component of PGA, PGV, PGD and 5 % damped linear elastic response spectra for periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s. Earthq Spectra 24(1):139–171
Chiou BSJ, Youngs RR (2008) An NGA model for the average horizontal component of peak ground motion and response spectra. Earthq Spectra 24(1):173–315
Chopra S, Kumar V, Suthar A, Kumar P (2012) Modeling of strong ground motions for 1991 Uttarkashi, 1999 Chamoli earthquakes, and a hypothetical great earthquake in Garhwal-Kumaun Himalaya. Nat Hazards 64:1141–1159
Das S, Gupta ID, Gupta VK (2006) A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of Northeast India. Earthq Spectra 22(1):1–27
Gupta ID (2010) Response spectral attenuation relations for in-slab earthquakes in Indo-Burmese subduction zone. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 30(5):368–377
Gutenberg B, Richter CF (1942) Earthquake magnitude, intensity, energy, and acceleration. Bull Seismol Soc Am 32(3):163–190
Iyengar RN, Raghukanth STH (2004) Attenuation of strong ground motion in peninsular India. Seismol Res Lett 75(4):530–540
Jain SK, Roshan RD, Arlekar JN. Basu PC (2000) Empirical attenuation relationships for the Himalayan earthquakes based on Indian strong-motion data. In: Proceedings of the 6th international conference on seismic zonation, Palm Spring, CA, USA, 12–15
Lindsey EO, Natsuaki R, Xu X, Shimada M, Hashimoto H, Melgar D, Sandwell DT (2015) Line of sight deformation from ALOS-2 interferometry: Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake and Mw 7.3 aftershock. Geophys Res Lett. doi:10.1002/2015GL065385
Mandal P, Kumar N, Murthy CS, Raju IP (2009) Ground motion attenuation relation from strong motion records of the 2001 Mw = 7.7 Bhuj Earthquake sequence (2001–2006), Gujarat, India. Pure Appl Geophys 166(3):451–469
Martin SM, Hough S (2015) The 21 May 2014 Mw 5.9 Bay of Bengal earthquake: macroseismic data suggest a high-stress-drop event. Seismol Res Lett 86(2A):369–377. doi:10.1785/0220140155
Martin S, Walter S (2010) A catalog of felt intensity data for 570 earthquakes in India from 1636 to 2009. Bull Seismol Soc Am 100(2):562–569
Mittal H, Kumar A, Kumar A, Kumar R (2015) Analysis of ground motion in Delhi from earthquakes recorded by strong motion network. Arab J Geosci 8:2005–2017
Molnar P, Tapponnier P (1975) Cenozoic tectonics of Asia: effects of a continental collision. Science 189:419–426
Molnar P, Tapponnier P (1978) Active tectonics of Tibet. J Geophys Res 83:5361–5374
Nath SK, Raj A, Thingbaijam KKS, Kumar A (2009) Ground motion synthesis and seismic scenario in Guwahati city—a stochastic approach. Seismol Res Lett 80(2):233–242
Parvez IA, Gusev A, Panza GF, Petukhin A (2001) Preliminary determination of the interdependence among strong motion amplitude, earthquake magnitude and hypocentral distance for the Himalayan region. Geophys J Int 144:577–596
Patil NS, Das J, Kumar A, Rout MM, Das R (2014) Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment of Himachal Pradesh and adjoining regions. J Earth Syst Sci 123–1:49–62
Philip GM, Watson DF (1982) A precise method for determining contoured surfaces. Aust Pet Explor As J 22:205–212
Raghukanth STG, Kavitha B (2014) Ground motion relations for active regions in India. Pure Appl Geophys 171:2241–2275
Sadigh K, Chang CY, Egan JA, Makdisi F, Youngs RR (1997) Attenuation relationships for shallow crustal earthquakes based on California strong motion data. Seismol Res Lett 68:180–189
Sharma ML (1998) Attenuation relationship for estimation of peak ground horizontal acceleration using data from strong motion arrays in India. Bull Seism Soc Am 88:1063–1069
Sharma B, Teotia SS, Kumar D (2007) Attenuation of P, S, and coda waves in Koyna region, India. J Seismol 11:327–344
Singh RP, Aman A, Prasad YJJ (1996) Attenuation relations for strong seismic ground motion in Himalayan Region. Pure Appl Geophys 147(1):161–180
Torre TL, Monsalve G, Sheehan AF, Sapkota S, Wu F (2007) Earthquake processes of the Himalayan collision zone in eastern Nepal and the southern Tibetan plateau. Geophys J Int 171:718–738
Valdiya KS (1980) The two intracrustal boundary thrusts of the Himalaya. Tectonophysics 66:323–348
Zhao JX, Zhang J, Asano A, Ohno Y, Oouchi T, Takahashi T, Ogawa H, Irikura K, Thio HK, Somerville PG, Fukushima Y (2006) Attenuation relations of strong ground motion in Japan using site classification based on predominant period. Bull Seismol Soc Am 96(3):898–913
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to USGS, Google Earth, NEIC, IRIS, CESMD, and EMSC for making ground motion data and terrain image available. We are grateful to the two anonymous referees and the Chief Editor for their valuable comments/suggestions that have helped to improve earlier version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahmad, R., Singh, R.P. Attenuation relation predicted observed ground motion of Gorkha Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015. Nat Hazards 80, 311–328 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1969-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1969-2