PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT OF ALBANIA

A new probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for Albania is carried out using the smoothed gridded seismicity approach. Albania's earthquake catalogue is already revised and expanded, covering a study area limited by 38 - 44.5 degrees N Latitude and 18 - 24 degrees E Longitude, and the time period from 58BC to 31/12/2008. The ground motion hazard map is presented over a 10 km grid in terms of peak ground acceleration for 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years, corresponding to 475-year return period. The reference site condition is firm rock, defined as having an average shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 m of the crust of 800 m/sec. It is the standard reference site condition used by the European seismic code (Eurocode 8) for seismic zonation and building codes. The main finding is that if this map is accepted as a reference indicator to establish a new regulatory national seismic zonation, design acceleration will be much higher than that applied in the current regulation. This implies that the competent authorities should take into consideration the obtained results to improve the existing design code in a more reliable and realistic basis in order to increase the safety level of constructions in the country.