Earthquake Hazard Assessment ― India and Adjacent Regions

This book represents a significant contribution to the area of earthquake data processing and to the development of region-specific magnitude correlations to create an up-to-date homogeneous earthquake catalogue that is uniform in magnitude scale. The book discusses seismicity analysis and estimation of seismicity parameters of a region at both finer and broader levels using different methodologies.

The delineation and characterization of regional seismic source zones which requires reasonable observation and engineering judgement is another subject covered. Considering the complex seismotectonic composition of a region, use of numerous methodologies (DSHA and PSHA) in analyzing the seismic hazard using appropriate instruments such as the logic tree will be elaborated to explicitly account for epistemic uncertainties considering alternative models (for Source model, Mmax estimation and Ground motion prediction equations) to estimate the PGA value at bedrock level. Further, VS30 characterization based on the topographic gradient, to facilitate the development of surface level PGA maps using appropriate amplification factors, is discussed. Evaluation of probabilistic liquefaction potential is also explained in the book.

Necessary backgrounds and contexts of the aforementioned topics will be elaborated through a case study specific to India which features spatiotemporally varied and complex tectonics. The methodology and outcomes presented in this book will be beneficial to practising engineers and researchers working in the fields of seismology and geotechnical engineering in particular and to society in general.

Dr. Sreevalsa Kolathayar (1985), obtained his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Govt. Engineering College Thrissur. He served as Lecturer in the same college and finished his M.Tech from IIT Kanpur and PhD from Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. Sreevalsa has published several research papers and has been involved in various national technical projects. Currently he is serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore.

Professor T.G. Sitharam (1961) did his Master of Science (Engineering) at the Indian Institute of Science in 1986 and pursued Doctoral programme at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Following his PhD in 1991, he did his Post Doctoral Research during the period 1992-1994 at the University of Texas, Austin, USA. Presently, he holds the position of Professor in Geotechnical Division of Civil Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India, and is a member of Program Advisory Committee (PAC) for the nationally coordinated programme on seismicity under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi and member of Expert Committee on Microzonation of urban centre Bangalore (DST, Government of India) and Microzonation of Delhi (Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India).