The Influence of Surface Topography on the Weak Ground Shaking in Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal

Meijde, M. van der; Ashrafuzzaman,; Kerle, N.; Khan, Suleman; Werff, H.M.A. van der

doi:10.3390/s20030678

Sensors

2020

DOI: 10.3390/s20030678

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The Influence of Surface Topography on the Weak Ground Shaking in Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal

M. van der Meijde

Ashrafuzzaman Ashrafuzzaman

N. Kerle

et al.

Abstract: It remains elusive why there was only weak and limited ground shaking in Kathmandu valley during the 25 April 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake. Our spectral element numerical simulations show that, during this earthquake, surface topography restricted the propagation of seismic energy into the valley. The mountains diverted the incoming seismic wave mostly to the eastern and western margins of the valley. As a result, we find de-amplification of peak ground displacement in most of the valley interior. Mod… Show more

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Cited by 5 publications

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Co‐seismic landslides in the Sikkim Himalaya during the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake: Lesson learned from the past and inference for the future

Joshi

2022

Geological Journal

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Sikkim, a north‐eastern state of India, has a very specific and unique place in the tourism map of India. Every year, lakhs of people visit the state. To accommodate such floating population in the area, some big towered home stays/hotels have been constructed. However, the area is under the threat of many natural disasters such as earthquake, landslide, land subsidence, cloudburst, etc. In the year 2021, within a span of 8 months (April–November), the Sikkim state hosted four light to moderate earthquakes (Mw 4.1–Mw 5.1). Out of these, the strongest earthquake (Mw 5.1) occurred on 5 April 2021, which was well experienced in the parts of Indian states (i.e., Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar) and across International borders, viz Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. Fortunately, this earthquake did not cause any major damage in the region. However, in the last two decades, one moderate (Mw 5.3) and one strong earthquake (Mw 6.9) has occurred in the Sikkim region on 14 Feb 2006 and 18 September 2011, respectively. Both of these earthquakes caused well enough damage to the residential as well as commercial buildings. Apart from infrastructural degeneracy, the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake (Mw 6.9) also caused generation of co‐seismic landslides within ~100 km epicentral distance from the earthquake. After a decade, from the 2011 earthquake, Gangtok city and other parts of the state have been rebuilt and reconstructed again, but most of the newly constructed and old refurbished buildings are established in the steep slope areas without considering the geotechnical properties of the underlying soil. These structures could be vulnerable during moderate to strong earthquakes. Therefore, the present study unfurled a question “Did we learn any lesson from the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake?”. Furthermore, the study calls for earthquake hazard adaptation measures in the tectonically sensitive Himalayan region in order to safeguard the lives and vital infrastructure.

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Co‐seismic landslides in the Sikkim Himalaya during the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake: Lesson learned from the past and inference for the future

Joshi

2022

Geological Journal

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The evaluation of the adjacency effect on the seismic response of homogenous hills

et al. 2023

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A brief review of previous studies shows that topographic features play an important role in the amplification (de-amplification) of seismic waves. Most researchers who have focused on topographic effects have paid attention to the distribution of amplification on isolated features, whereas what is seen in nature is often more complicated. It is known that 2D or 3D geological structures further contribute to the amplification of seismic ground motion. The main objective of this study is an investigation of the influence of adjacent hills on seismic responses. First, a parametric study has been performed, considering five models (consisting of one to five 2D symmetric homogeneous semi-sinusoidal hills), which are subjected to vertical incident waves. The 2D numerical results show that the largest values of spectral amplification for a series of 2D semi-sinusoidal hills are observed at the crest stations of the central hill, and it increases when the number of hills increases symmetrically on both sides of the central hill. This means that the spectral amplification increases from 3.3 for single-hill model to 4.37 for five-hill model. In the following, to validate the parametric results, three adjacent hills located in the city of Arak are studied using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio analysis of microtremor recordings. The comparison with the amplification results obtained from the distinct element (UDEC) and boundary element (HYBRID) numerical approaches indicates that the central hill is more affected by adjacency, rather than the side hills. The spectral amplification for the crest station on the central hill is higher than the two other stations.

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3D simulation of ground motion for the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, based on the spectral element method

Shen¹,

Yang

Xu³

et al. 2022

Nat Hazards

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The Influence of Surface Topography on the Weak Ground Shaking in Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Co‐seismic landslides in the Sikkim Himalaya during the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake: Lesson learned from the past and inference for the future

Co‐seismic landslides in the Sikkim Himalaya during the 2011 Sikkim Earthquake: Lesson learned from the past and inference for the future

The evaluation of the adjacency effect on the seismic response of homogenous hills

3D simulation of ground motion for the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, based on the spectral element method

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