Seismic hazard maps and spectra deduced for sustainable urban developments in Kuwait

The outcomes of this study are necessary to assess seismic hazard in Kuwait. The noticeable increase in urban development and construction of tall structures and skyscrapers highlights the importance of seismic risk analysis and the creation of a unified seismic code for Kuwait. This paper can be considered as an initial step through the assessment and deaggregation of seismic hazards in Kuwait. To achieve this purpose, a complete seismic catalog for Kuwait and the active Zagros Seismic Belt has been created containing all the available historical and instrumental earthquakes, unified in magnitude and foreshocks and aftershocks removed. Alternative seismotectonic models were built basing on structural geological situation, seismicity and focal mechanisms. The recurrence parameters along with the maximum expected earthquake from all seismic sources were basically estimated. Appropriate ground motion prediction relation within a logic tree formulation was fundamentally used in creating seismic hazard maps. A state-of-the-art probabilistic approach is used in this study to produce hazard maps at 75, 475, 975, and 2475 years return periods (equivalent to 50%, 10%, 5%, and 2%, respectively, probability of exceedance in 50 years) at the PGA, 0.1, 1 and 4 s spectral periods. The hazard maps were computed using a spacing grid of 0.1° × 0.1° across the Kuwait area. Uniform hazard spectra and deaggregation of seismic hazard have been established for the governorates of Kuwait. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was performed for theses governorates to reduce uncertainties in the seismotectonic source models, predictive ground motion equation and maximum expected earthquake magnitude. These results with vulnerability index are essential components for seismic risk analysis in Kuwait.