Deterministic seismic hazard in Egypt

The regional seismic hazard in Egypt is assessed using a deterministic appr oach based on the computation of synthetic seismograms at a set of gridpoin ts located at distances of 0.2 degrees from each other. The main input for this computation are earthquake sources and structural models. The earthqua ke sources are parametrized using focal mechanisms, seismogenic areas and r egional seismicity. A number of deep seismic profiles have been used to def ine the crustal structures, Similar sets of gravity profiles have been used to define the density of the layers. The peak displacement (DMAX), peak ve locity (VMAX) and design ground acceleration (DGA) are chosen and plotted t o construct the seismic hazard maps. There are similarities between compute d and observed amplitudes of ground motion in terms of their values and spa tial distributions. The results obtained from the deterministic and probabi listic approaches are comparable. The areas of high seismic hazard level ar e of great socio-economic importance.