EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE SCENARIO FOR SYLHET BANGLADESH

摘要

Sylhet is the most important city in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. Also it falls within the most earthquake prone zone of the country. Within the last 150 years, three major earthquakes (Surface-wave magnitude larger than 7.5) have occurred in this area. Like Gujarat, local people are not aware of the seismic status of the region. Since the last catastrophic earthquake occurred in 1918, very few people has the memory of its destruction. Due to the city's strategic and economic importance, it is essential to estimate the likely consequences of potential earthquakes so that suitable mitigation measures may be developed and implemented. The earthquake damage scenario for Sylhet has been developed based on the seismic hazard and vulnerability of the building stock in the city. Risk assessment has been used to determine the extent of likely damage or destruction of buildings of different types. This analysis is further extended to determine the likely casualty levels based on a multi-parameter morbidity model. The final results of this investigation are the number of buildings that are likely to be damaged due to earthquakes of different intensities and the number of people who may be injured and killed. From these investigations it is found that the extent of damage and destruction due to code-level earthquake affecting the city would be large.