Study on Design Earthquakes for Kinmen, Matsu and Penhu Areas

Study on Design Earthquakes for Kinmen, Matsu and Penhu Areas

Observed from the earthquake events recorded by Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau during the past 100 years, it is obvious that the seismicity in the Taiwan Strait is lower than that in the Taiwan Island. Since low seismicity may cause high mathematical uncertainty in the seismic hazard analysis, the minimum seismic requirement specified in the design code for buildings in the Taiwan Island is also currently used for the design earthquake at Kinmen, Matsu, and Penhu areas. Recently, geological investigation result indicated that the Binhai fault is an active fault and dominates most of the seismic activities in the Taiwan Strait. Thus, the current design earthquake may not be appropriate and conservative for Kinmen, Matsu, and Penhu areas. This study aimed to modify the current seismic design earthquake for those areas. By establishing an earthquake catalogue for the Taiwan Strait from different earthquake data recorded in Taiwan, in Mainland China, and in Global network, the seismicity at the mentioned areas can be evaluated. Both the deterministic and probabilistic analyses results are taken into account to assess the seismic hazard at those areas. The results of this study can make the current seismic design code more comprehensive.