CIS 907

Earthquake Resistant Design

Assignment 1: Report

Name: Rokaya Mohamed Ismail

ID: 52-24773
Supervised by: Dr Ibrahim Lotfy
TA: Eng Karim Hammad
Date of Submission: 2/10/2023
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Table of Contents:
Section 1: 10 highest earthquakes in Egypt on Richter scale ......................................................... 3

Section 2: 20 highest earthquakes all the world on Richter scale ................................................ 12

Section 3: Syria, Turkey & Morocco earthquake .......................................................................... 23

Section 4: Down hole seismic geophysical Test ............................................................................ 26

Section 5: Seismic refraction geophysical Test ............................................................................. 27

Section 6: Zhang Heng Seismic Device ........................................................................................ 28

Section 7: Modern Seismometers .................................................................................................. 29

Section 8: References .................................................................................................................... 30

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Section 1: 10 highest earthquakes in Egypt on Richter scale
For the past 25 years, Richter scale has been recorded earthquakes in Egypt, from the highest
earthquakes,

1) Sharm El-Sheikh earthquake occurred on June 16, 2020 4:30 PM. It had a magnitude of 5.5
and struck 74 kilometers SSE Sharm El-Sheikh of, at a depth of 10 km.

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2) Rosetta earthquake occurred on Jan 17, 2013 11:17 PM. It had a magnitude of 4.9 and struck
72 kilometers, at a depth of 20 km

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3) Damietta earthquake occurred in May 15, 2019 6:53 PM. It had a magnitude of 4.8 and struck
174 kilometers from Port Said, at a depth of 10 km

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4) Marsa Matruh earthquake occurred in Sep 3, 2015 1:44 AM. It had a magnitude of 4.5 and
struck 269 km from Cairo, at a depth of 13 km

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5) Bilbays earthquake occurred in Jan 21, 2017 4:54 PM. It had a magnitude of 4.3 and struck
35 kilometers SE of Bilbays, at a depth 10 km

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6)Al Asir min Ramadan earthquake occurred in Dec 31, 2018 12:36 PM. It had a magnitude of 4
and struck 24 kilometers from Al Asir min Ramadan, at a depth of 20 km

7) Aswan earthquake occurred in Feb 6, 2021 6:14 PM. It had a magnitude of 4.2 and struck 277
km from Aswan, at a depth of 20 km

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8) Suez earthquake occurred in July 22, 2014 5:03 AM. It had a magnitude of 4.1 and struck 227
kilometers from Damanhur, at a depth of 10 km

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9) Safaga earthquake occurred in Jan 18, 2020 11:46 PM. It had a magnitude of 4.4 and struck 90
kilometers from Hurghada, at a depth of 10 km

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10) Hurghada earthquake occurred in Mar 15, 2014 1:57 PM. It had a magnitude of 4 and struck
88 km from Hurghada

-Tectonic Plates of Egypt

According to the map of

tectonic plates of Egypt,
all the locations of the
earthquakes are near of
the tectonic plates either
in the Mediterranean Sea
or the Red Sea.

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Section 2: 20 highest earthquakes all the world on Richter scale
1) The west coast of Northen Sumatra, Indonesia occurred in Dec 26, 2004. It had a magnitude
of 9.1

2) Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan occurred in Mar 11, 2011. It had a magnitude of 9

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3) Chile earthquake occurred in Feb 27, 2010. It had a magnitude of 8.8

4) Arequipa, Peru earthquake occurred in June 23, 2001. It had a magnitude of 8.4

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5) Nias earthquake, Indonesia occurred in Mar 28, 2005. It had a magnitude of 8.6

6) Indian Ocean earthquakes, Aceh, Indonesia occurred in April 11, 2012. It had a magnitude of
8.6

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7) Hokkaido, Japan occurred in Sep 25, 2003. It had a magnitude of 8.3

8) Kuril Island earthquake occurred in Nov 15, 2006. It had a magnitude of 8.3

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9) Okhotsk sea earthquake occurred in May 24, 2013. It had a magnitude of 8.3

10) Central Italy earthquakes occurred in Aug 24, 2016. It had a magnitude of 6.2

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11) Chiapas, Oaxaca, Mexico occurred in Sep 7, 2017. It had a magnitude of 8.2

12) Michoacan, Mexico occurred in Sep 19, 2022. It had a magnitude of 7.6

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13) Haiti earthquake occurred in Jan 12, 2010. It had a magnitude of 7.1

14) Kashmir earthquake occurred in Oct 8, 2005. It had a magnitude of 7.6

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15) Gujarat earthquake occurred in Jan 26, 2001. It had a magnitude of 7.6

16) Chamoli earthquake occurred in March 29, 1999. It had a magnitude of 6.9

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17) Moro Gulf, Mindanao earthquake occurred in Aug 17, 1976. It had a magnitude of 7.9

18) Central Luzon, Philippines earthquake occurred in July 16, 1990. It had a magnitude of 7.8

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19) Mendocino, California earthquake occurred in April 25, 1992. It had a magnitude of 7.2

20) Humboldt earthquake occurred in Nov 8, 1980. It had a magnitude of 7

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-Tectonic Plates of the world

According to the tectonic plates of the world map, all the earthquake
locations mentioned above are near the tectonic plates

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Section 3: Syria, Turkey & Morocco earthquake
1) Syria & Turkey earthquake struck near the cities of Nurdagi and Gaziantep in turkey, it struck
the Northen & Western Syria with a magnitude of 7.8 in Feb 6, 2023. The epicenter was 37 km
west–northwest of Gaziantep. The earthquake had a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII
(Extreme) around the epicenter and in Antakya.

The Gaziantep Earthquake Sequence occurred on the East Anatolian Fault Zone, a left-lateral
strike-slip fault that divides the Anatolian Plate from the northern part of the Arabian Plate,
where Syria is located.

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Intensity & Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) graph of Turkey, Syria earthquake. Figure (a)
shows the PGA graph of east-west component while figure (b) shows the PGA graph of north-
south component at the TK.3137 station. A peak ground acceleration of 1.62 g was recorded by a
station at Fevzipaşa

2) Morocco earthquake struck near the town of

Oukaïmedene in western Morocco with a magnitude of 6.8 in Sep 8, 2023. The epicenter was
located about 72 km southwest of Marrakech, in Morocco’s Al Haouz province. The earthquake’s
focus occurred at a depth of only 18 km below the surface, according to the United States
Geological Survey, which produced stronger shaking at the surface than it would have had it
been deeper. The main shock was followed by a magnitude-4.9 aftershock about 20 minutes later.
he earthquake’s epicenter was located within the northwestern portion of the African Plate
approximately 550 km south of the boundary between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates.

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The Marrakesh-Safi earthquake lies close to the Azores-Gibraltar Transform Fault which is the
boundary between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

Intensity & PGA graph of Morocco earthquake

the USGS estimate that the PGA of the
Marrakech-Safi earthquake reached 0.18g closer
to the epicenter, the PGA of the Marrakesh-Safi
event will have exceeded the 475-year hazard

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Section 4: Down hole seismic geophysical Test
The downhole geophysical technique is a test that is performed to obtain mainly the dynamic
elastic modulus of the terrain, traversed by a survey, from the measurement of the velocity of the
primary and secondary waves along the borehole. It involves the use of seismic waves generated
by a seismic source and recorded by sensors called geophones or accelerometers, which are
placed in a borehole. During the test, the seismic source generates waves that travel through the
subsurface layers of the Earth. These waves reflect and refract at different interfaces, providing
valuable information about the geological structures and properties of the subsurface.

-The results of the test: subsurface layer thickness, soil properties, density of rocks & oil, gas
exploration

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Section 5: Seismic refraction geophysical Test
A critically refracted seismic wave travels along acoustic interfaces and generates new waves
that can be detected at the surface. The seismic-refraction method measures the time a seismic-
energy pulse takes to travel from a source point to several receivers after being redirected by one
or more subsurface interfaces. Seismic refraction measures the wave time traveling from a source
to a layer of varying density, along with the layer and back to the geophone. Placing the
geophone along the direction gives a 2D profile of the wave propagation velocities.

-The results of the test: subsurface layer thickness, shape & depth

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Section 6: Zhang Heng Seismic Device
Zhang Heng Seismic Device is the first seismoscope. A seismoscope records the motions of
Earth's shaking, but unlike a seismometer, it does not retain a time record of those motions. In
132 AD, Zhang invented the first seismograph for measuring earthquakes. One has to understand
how significant earthquakes were in China at this time, not only for the destructive power which
they unleashed but also because they were seen as punishment from the gods for poor
governance of the country. Its accuracy and reliability have not been scientifically tested, and
therefore, it is not clear if the device could work as intended.

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Section 7: Modern Seismometers
A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground motions, such as caused by earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, and explosions. Seismometers are usually combined with a timing device and
a recording device to form a seismograph. The output of such a device—formerly recorded on
paper or film, now recorded and processed digitally—is a seismogram. Such data is used to
locate and characterize earthquakes, and to study the Earth's internal structure. Modern
seismometers are accurate enough to register even the tiniest ground movements of only a few
nanometers – in other words, of a millionth of a millimeter. The strength of the earthquake is
determined from the measured amplitudes and the distance to the hypocenter of the earthquake.

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Section 8: References
• https://www.guycarp.com/insights/2023/09/post-event-morocco-
earthquake.html#:~:text=This%20shows%20estimates%20for%20the,Safi%20earthquake
%20reached%200.18g.

• https://earthquakelist.org/egypt/

• https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/13/5/1194

• http://alfageotech.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Brochure-Downhole-
Seismic-Test-bb.pdf

• https://surfacesearch.com/seismic-refraction-what-is-it/

• https://www.bgr.bund.de/EN/Themen/Seismologie/Seismologie/Seismometer_Stationen/s
tationen_node.html#:~:text=Modern%20seismometers%20are%20accurate%20enough,th
e%20hypocentre%20of%20the%20earthquake.

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