A method for Bayesian estimation of the probability of local intensity for some cities in Japan

Abstract

Seismic hazard in terms of probability of exceedance of a given intensity in a given time span,was assessed for 12 sites in Japan.The method does not use any attenuation law.Instead,the dependence of local intensity on epicentral intensity I 0 is calculated directly from the data,using a Bayesian model.According to this model (Meroni et al., 1994),local intensity follows the binomial distribution with parameters (I 0 ,p ).The parameter p is considered as a random variable following the Beta distribution.This manner of Bayesian estimates of p are assessed for various values of epicentral intensity and epicentral distance.In order to apply this model for the assessment of seismic hazard,the area under consideration is divided into seismic sources (zones)of known seismicity.The contribution of each source on the seismic hazard at every site is calculated according to the Bayesian model and the result is the combined effect of all the sources.High probabilities of exceedance were calculated for the sites that are in the central part of the country,with hazard decreasing slightly towards the north and the south parts.