L. Peruzza et al., TESTING A NEW HYBRID APPROACH TO SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT - AN APPLICATION TO THE CALABRIAN ARC (SOUTHERN ITALY), Natural hazards, 14(2-3), 1996, pp. 113-126
We tested a new hybrid method for the evaluation of seismic hazard. A
recently proposed fault segmentation and earthquake recurrence model o
f peninsular Italy suggests that the interval for which the local hist
orical catalogue is complete is shorter than the mean recurrence time
of individual large faults (similar to 1000 years), or at the most com
parable. These new findings violate the fundamental assumption of hist
orical probabilistic seismic hazard methods that the historical record
is representative of the activity of all the seismogenic sources, The
hybrid method we propose uses time-dependent modelling of the major e
arthquakes and catalogue-based historical probabilistic estimates for
all minor events. We assume that the largest earthquakes are character
istic for individual discrete fault segments, model their probability
of occurrence by a renewal process and compute the shaking associated
with each of them with a simplified procedure. Then we calculate the p
robability of exceeding a given threshold of peak ground acceleration
for specific sites as the aggregate probability of occurrence of large
characteristic earthquakes and minor shocks. We apply the method to t
he Calabrian Arc (Southern Italy) performing the calculations for five
major towns. The exposure to seismic hazard of Reggio Calabria, Catan
zaro and Vibo Valentia, which locate close to recently activated large
faults, decreases with respect to traditional time-independent estima
tes. On the contrary, an increase of seismic hazard is obtained for Ca
strovillari, which locates in an area where large faults displaying Ho
locene activity have been recently recognized but no significant earth
quake is reported in the historical catalogue. Cosenza has the highest
probability to experience a significant peak ground acceleration with
both the new hybrid and the traditional approaches. We wish to stress
that the present results should be interpreted only in terms of the d
ifferences between the new hybrid and the traditional approaches, not
for their absolute values, and that they are not intended to be used f
or updating or modifying the current national seismic zonation.