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Earthquake Deterministic Hazard and Sensitivity Analysis for Residential Cities in Kuwait

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Abstract

Urban development and construction of high-rise buildings in Kuwait have recently increased precipitately. For this reason, creating a seismic code for residential areas in Kuwait has become essential. This exertion to acquire precious results is the first step toward creating a unified earthquake code for the residential areas in the State of Kuwait. In this study, more details of local seismic activity were considered, as well as regional seismic activity, as a result of Kuwait’s proximity to the famous Zagros belt in Iran. Unified historical and instrumental catalogs on earthquake were compiled for Kuwait and neighboring regions. Influential seismic sources have been identified. Alternative seismotectonic models have been principally created. Recurrence coefficients and maximum earthquake expected from each seismic source were fundamentally considered, taking into account the epistemic uncertainty. The uniform hazard spectra for six Kuwaiti governorates were calculated using deterministic hazard technique. To reduce uncertainty, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for all six Kuwaiti governorates using seismotectonic pattern, earthquake attenuation models, and maximum expected earthquake. The priceless outcome of this study can be used by the Kuwaiti Public Authority for Housing Welfare to create a seismic code for buildings in Kuwait.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors extend their sincere thanks and gratitude to the Kuwait National Seismic Network (KNSN) at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) for providing seismological data. Figures were generated by the Generic Mapping Tool (GMT), ARC GIS, and Grapher software. The AUE software (Kijko, 2004) and The CRISIS 2015 Software (http://www.r-crisis.com/) was used for seismic hazard calculation. This work is a part of project, project title “Seismic risk in the residential cities of Kuwait” submitted to KFAS for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Safat, Kuwait

    Abd el-aziz Khairy Abd el-aal, Abdullah Al-Enezi & Farah Al-Jeri

  2. National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Helwan, Egypt

    Abd el-aziz Khairy Abd el-aal

  3. Zagazig University, Faculty of Science, Geology Department, Zagazig, Egypt

    Shaimaa Ismail Mostafa

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  1. Abd el-aziz Khairy Abd el-aal
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  2. Abdullah Al-Enezi
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  3. Farah Al-Jeri
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Correspondence to Abd el-aziz Khairy Abd el-aal or Shaimaa Ismail Mostafa.

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Abd el-aziz Khairy Abd el-aal, Al-Enezi, A., Al-Jeri, F. et al. Earthquake Deterministic Hazard and Sensitivity Analysis for Residential Cities in Kuwait. J. Volcanolog. Seismol. 15, 445–462 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0742046321060051

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