Attenuation relation predicted observed ground motion of Gorkha Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015

Abstract

This paper discusses comparison of recent observed ground motion parameters of Gorkha Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015 (Mw 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.