INFLUENCE OF THE GEOTECHNICAL CHARACTERISATION ON THE EVALUATION OF THE SEISMIC GEOTECHNICAL HAZARD FOR A MEDITERRANEAN CITY

As the Mediterranean cities are prone to seismic risk, many researches have been carried out for the evaluation of seismic hazard and for the mitigation of seismic risk. In Italy severe earthquakes have destroyed the cities of Messina, Catania and Noto. In particular, for the city of Catania, the scenario earthquake could be considered the 1693 earthquake (M = 7-7.3), which caused about 60,000 victims, about of which 12,000 in the city of Catania. Microzoning of seismic hazard, linked with scenario earthquake, is presented.The available data about the subsoil of the city of Catania have allowed a detailed knowledge of soils; in particular it has been possible to evaluate the profile of shear waves velocity (VS), as recommended by Eurocode 8. This allows the possibility of the evaluation of the Geotechnical Seismic Hazard, taking into account the site effects including amplification of ground motion, slope instability and liquefaction. The microzonation of the Seismic Geotechnical Hazard is presented and discussed.