Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37

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Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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Isoseismal map of the 2015 Nepal earthquake and its relationships with
ground-motion parameters, distance and magnitude
Sanjay K. Prajapati a,⇑, Harendra K. Dadhich a, Sumer Chopra b
a
National Center for Seismology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, India
b
Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A devastating earthquake of Mw 7.8 struck central Nepal on 25th April, 2015 (6:11:25 UT) which resulted
Received 2 November 2015 in more than
9000 deaths, and destroyed millions of houses. Standing buildings, roads and electrical
Received in revised form 25 April 2016 installations worth 25–30 billions of dollars are reduced to rubbles. The earthquake was widely felt in
Accepted 12 July 2016
the northern parts of India and moderate damage have been observed in the northern part of UP and
Available online 14 July 2016
Bihar region of India. Maximum intensity IX, according to the USGS report, was observed in the meizo-
seismal zone, surrounding the Kathmandu region. In the present study, we have compiled available infor-
Keywords:
mation from the print, electronic media and various reports of damages and other effects caused by the
Nepal
Intensity
event, and interpreted them to obtain Modified Mercalli Intensities (MMI) at over 175 locations spread
Ground motion over Nepal and surrounding Indian and Tibet region. We have also obtained a number of strong motion
Attenuation recordings from India and Nepal seismic network and developed an empirical relationship between the
Hazard MMI and peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV). We have used least square regres-
sion technique to derive the empirical relation between the MMI and ground motion parameters and
compared them with the empirical relationships available for other regions of the world. Further, seismic
intensity information available for historical earthquakes, which have occurred in the Nepal Himalaya
along with the present intensity data has been utilized for developing an attenuation relationship for
the studied region using two step regression analyses. The derived attenuation relationship is useful
for assessing damage of a potential future large earthquake (earthquake scenario-based planning pur-
poses) in the region.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
On April 25, 2015 at 11:56 NST (06:11:26 UTC), MW 7.8 earth-
quake struck central Nepal region. The epicenter of the earthquake
estimated at 28.1°N and 84.6°E is placed 77 km WNW of the Kath-
mandu, the capital city of the Nepal (Fig. 1). This earthquake has
occurred as a result of thrusting of the subducting Indian plate
under the Eurasian plate to the north (Avouac, 2003; Ader et al.,
2012) and have caused severe ground shaking across Nepal, north
India and adjoining areas. Such a large earthquake has struck Nepal
after 81 years. The earthquake has damaged structures of commer-
cial, public and religious importance and disrupted the road net-
work. It has destroyed swaths of oldest neighborhoods of
Kathmandu and severely damaged three UNESCO World Heritage
sites. The earthquake was strong enough to be felt in most of the
parts of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tibet. The earthquake
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: go2sanjay_p@yahoo.com (S.K. Prajapati).
was a shallow-focus event (focal depth 15 km, IMD report), and
lasted for about 50 s. The event was widely felt in the northern part
of India (Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarak-
hand, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, NCT of Delhi). In Tibet, the earth-
quake was felt as far as Shigatse and Lhasa. More than 8700
deaths were reported (Bilham, 2015) in Nepal,
80 in India, 25
in China and 4 in Bangladesh. In Nepal, the worst affected is Sind-
hupal chowk, where most of the deaths are reported. In the capital
city, Kathmandu, more than 15% of the total deaths were reported
(Rai et al., 2015). The preliminary estimates indicate that the level
of ground motions were quite high in the epicentral area. Majority
of the damaged buildings were stone/brick masonry structures
with no seismic detailing, whereas most of RC buildings were
undamaged. The collapse of structures was mainly associated with
ground motions together with their low earthquake resistance.
The earthquake intensities qualitatively describe the effects of
ground shaking rather than the energy released. While an earth-
quake is described by a single magnitude, it produces a range of
shaking intensities across an area. The intensity survey in any

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2016.07.013
1367-9120/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37 25

Fig. 1. Geological map of the Central Himalaya and adjoining regions. The red star indicates the April 25, 2015 earthquake with its fault plane solution. Major Himalayan
thrusts viz. Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), Main Central Thrust (MCT) are also marked. Stars shows the historical earthquake occurred in Nepal
Himalaya region. Blue triangle and black rectangle shows the strong ground motion station and major cities of the Nepal and North India respectively. Red dashed line shows
the rupture dimension of April 25, 2015 earthquake. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

region after an earthquake provides important information about
the directivity, fault strike and attenuation characteristics etc.
The event has presented an opportunity to validate our current
knowledge of earthquake risk in the region. The earthquake effects
are crucial in understanding the nature of the natural hazard, its
impact and extent of the risk exposure to the society. The intensity
map of a region also provide raw damage data of existing built
environments and are useful for developing empirical correlation
between the ground motion and damage severity for assessing
earthquake impact from future large events.
Extensive news articles were written in the early aftermath of
the Nepal earthquake and were published in both conventional
newspapers and on the web, describing the damage. We compiled
available accounts from various sources and interpreted them to
obtain MMI values following conventional practice and prepared
an intensity map. The isoseismal map in any earthquake-affected
region is an effective tool in the evaluation of ground motion char-
acteristics of the region.
Intensity data has wide applications in engineering seismology
inspite of its qualitative nature. Some of the applications include:
studying the attenuation of ground motion (Khattri et al., 1984),
correlation of intensities with accelerations and other parameters
like magnitude, epicentral distance (Murphy and O’ Brien, 1977),
infer the pattern of faulting from the shape of the isoseismal
(Gupta and Combs, 1978), correlation of the intensities with the
ground response characteristics (King et al., 1990) and to study
the anomalous residual intensities and their significance in seismic
hazard estimation (Algermissen, 1986). The recent event has been
recorded at number of Indian strong motion sites spread over Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand as well at a single strong motion
site in Nepal region, maintained by USGS (Fig. 1). We have made
an attempt to develop an attenuation relationship between PGA
and intensity as well Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) and intensity,
which can be used to estimate intensity rapidly from future large
earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya region. The motivation for car-
rying out the present work is to find out if there is any strong
motion parameter that could be used as an analogue to seismic
intensity. Further the derived attenuation relationship will also
be useful for assessing damage from a potential future large earth-
quake in the region. Additionally, an attenuation relationship
between MMI and epicentral distance is developed from the avail-
able intensity values of the present and historical earthquakes. The
relationship will help us in constraining the magnitudes of the
historical earthquakes occurred in the region.
2. Tectonics and seismicity of Nepal Himalaya
Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015 is located in Lesser Himalaya
(LH) domain, bounded on the north by intra-continental Main Cen-
tral Thrust (MCT) across which Higher Himalayan (HH) crystallines
override southward (Yin, 2006). The LH on south is bounded suc-
cessively by the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Himalayan
Frontal Thrust (HFT), enclosing in between the narrow Sub-
Himalaya (SH). The HFT defines the southern limit of the deforma-
tion in the Himalayan system and defines a first order topographic
break against the flat Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) further south.
Geologically Nepal Himalayas can be divided into four distinct tec-
tonic units (Fig. 1) (Gansser, 1964; Le Fort, 1975; Yin, 2006). The
northernmost zone, known as the Tethyan sedimentary series
(TSS), consists of Cambrian to Eocene sedimentary and low-grade
metamorphic rocks. The TSS lies between the Indus–Yarlung
Suture (IYS), which is the northern limit of the Nepal Himalayas,
the South Tibetan Detachment, a north dipping normal fault,
which marks the limit with the underlying Higher Himalaya
(HH; Burchfield et al., 1992). The HH consists of high-grade
26 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37
metamorphic rocks including gneisses, schists and migmatites. The
width of this unit varies along Nepal, it is only a few kilometers
where the unit is limited to its root zone like in central Nepal,
whereas, it can reach tens of kilometers where it has over-
thrusted the Lesser Himalaya (LH) forming series of nappes and
klippes in western and eastern Nepal (Upreti, 1999; De Celles
et al., 2001). The LH underlies the HH along the Main Central
Thrust (MCT) and forms a series of duplexes composed of low-
grade meta-sedimentary rocks. In eastern Nepal, the LH is mainly
exposed in tectonic windows that cut through extensive crystalline
thrust sheet. In central Nepal, the width of LH reaches 100 km
because of the absence of over-thrusted HH. Crystalline nappes
and klippes reappear in western Nepal. The last unit, sub-
Himalaya is composed of Neogene to Quaternary syntectonic clas-
tic sediments, is formed by the Siwalik thrust belt. It lies between
the MBT and MFT, which is the most, recently activated one in the
sequence (Lave and Avouac, 2001).
Ongoing collision process in the Himalaya has posed high seis-
mic hazard in the region (Bilham et al., 2001) where many moder-
ate to great earthquakes have devastated the region since historical
times (Chitrakar and Pandey, 1986; Bilham, 2004), nonetheless the
documentation of the historical data in the Himalaya is not com-
plete (Rajendran and Rajendran, 2005). Present day kinematics
show that about 50% of plate convergence is consumed in a narrow
belt all along Himalaya (Jackson and Bilham, 1994; Jouanne et al.,
1999; Larson et al., 1999; Lave and Avouac, 2001) with a seismic
potential of producing great interplate earthquakes. Historically,
Nepal hosted four moderate earthquakes (Ambraseys and
Douglas, 2004; Bilham, 2004) (Fig. 1). In Eastern Nepal, a major
earthquake occurred in 1934, the Bihar-Nepal earthquake. In par-
ticular, this was the most destructive earthquake which has
occurred in the recent past and caused many fatalities (+10,000
deaths). In Western Nepal an Mw 6.5 earthquake occurred in
1980 which killed more than 200 people and destroyed 40,000
dwellings. Another Earthquake of the Mw = 6.8, occurred in the
eastern district of Udaipur of Nepal on August 20, 1988. This earth-
quake caused fatalities of more than 1000 and caused heavy dam-
age in both Nepal and India (Chander et al., 1986). Udaipur
earthquake was a comparatively deep focused event with its epi-
center in the proximity of the rupture zone of the 1934 Nepal–
Bihar earthquake (Fig. 1) leading many authors to consider it to
be a mantle event (e.g., Pandey et al., 1999). On 18th September
2011, Mw, 6.9 earthquakes occurred in the eastern Nepal that
killed more than 100 people in India and Nepal.
The 2015 Nepal earthquake of Mw 7.8 ruptured a fault section
that overlaps the rupture plane of the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earth-
quake (Avouac et al., 2015). Geologically, earthquake is located in
the Lesser Himalaya (LH) domain, bounded on the north by
intra-continental Main Central Thrust (MCT) across which Higher
Himalayan (HH) crystalline overrides southward (Fig. 1) (Yin,
2006). The Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Himalayan Fron-
tal Thrust (HFT) bound the LH successively. These two thrusts
enclose the narrow Sub-Himalaya (SH Siwalik). The HFT provides
the topographic break from the flat pile of sediments in the Indo-
Gangetic Plains (IGP). The sedimentary sequences together with
the underlying cratonic Indian plate under-thrusts the Himalaya.
It is also noted that the rupture planes of the 1934 and 2015 earth-
quakes are contiguous, although the locations of the epicentres of
1934 and 2015 earthquakes are to east and west of Kathmandu,
respectively.
3. Preparation of an isoseismal map of 2015 Nepal Earthquake
All the news reports obtained after the Nepal earthquake from
the print and electronic media of India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and
Bangladesh are compiled. A summary of these reports, including
their sources, is listed in Table 1. From the available accounts, we
assigned modified Mercalli intensities (e.g., Stover and Coffman,
1993) based on the severity of shaking and also compared it with
recent published reports and articles (Goda et al., 2015;
Humanity Road report, 2015; Report by Omer and Resat, 2015).
In the Nepal region, heavily damaged regions were generally
assigned MMI values of IX, corresponding to violent damage to
structures. The intensities were assigned to a total of 175 sites
spread across Nepal, India, Tibet, Bhutan and Bangladesh (Table 1).
An isoseismal map is prepared based on the assigned intensity
dataset (Fig. 2). The isoseismal map (Fig. 2) reveals several interest-
ing features. In the isoseismal map, an intensity value of IX was
assigned, where maximum building damage, road blockages,
rock/boulder falls in the mountain areas have been reported
(Goda et al., 2015; Rai et al., 2015). We have overlaid the rupture
model (dashed blue line) derived by USGS over the intensity map
and found that the maximum intensity (IX) falls within the zone
where maximum slip has been observed (Goda et al., 2015). Inten-
sity VIII was assigned to places (Lamjung, Janakpur, Thankot,
Ramachip) where most of the buildings have collapsed. The inten-
sity VII mostly covered the southern parts of the Nepal and Tibet.
The Intensities VI cover mostly the adjoining regions of UP & Bihar
of India (Gorkhapur in UP, Motihari, Raxual, Bettiah in Bihar), Tibet,
China region, where partial damage is reported and people were
frightened and ran out of their houses, diagonal cracks are noticed
and household articles are knocked down. In southern Tibet region,
an intensity of VI was assigned as most of the houses constructed
from mud have collapsed. Intensity V and IV are assigned to the
sites where shaking of bed, minor cracks in buildings, people were
frightened are reported. In Kolkata, West Bengal, walls of few old
buildings were collapsed, where an intensity of IV was assigned.
Intensity III was assigned where no damage has been reported
and only felt reports are available. An isoseismal map is prepared
based on all the above information (Fig. 2). The isoseismal map is
well constrained with an elliptical shape, having its major axis
aligned in the ESE direction which indicate the direction of the rup-
ture propagation as reported by USGS. Strike of the causative fault
matches well with the major axis of the isoseismal map.
4. Attenuation relationships between intensity and ground
motion parameters
Seismic intensity is an index describing, at a particular site, the
degree of shaking or damage. An intensity map gives the shaking
pattern derived from damages caused from an earthquake and its
effects on humans. A more objective representation of the degree
of shaking is provided by the accelerations that are measured by
accelerographs. An attenuation relationship developed for a partic-
ular region provides a tool to rapidly assess damage from any
earthquake. Such relationships are useful in generating shake maps
for seismically active regions where more frequent, small to mod-
erate, events occur and are felt widely but cause little or no dam-
age. Himalaya is one of the most active interplate earthquake
regions where earthquakes occurred frequently. Yet no empirical
ground-motion models have been derived for the area. Present
study is a step forward in this direction by making an attempt to
develop an empirical relationship for predicting the intensity of
crustal earthquakes in the Himalaya region.
Several studies on the attenuation relationships involving
intensities suggest that such empirical relationships are region-
specific and therefore they should be carefully chosen for use in
a particular region (Murphy and O’ Brien, 1977; Kaka and
Atkinson, 2004; Wu et al., 2003). One of the first attempts to cor-
relate above parameters was made by Cancani (1904). Since then,
 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37 27

Table 1
Print and Web media based assigned MMI due to 25th April 2015 Nepal earthquake.

S. no Place Longitude Latitude MMI Report Source

1 Manipur, India 93.90627 24.663717 III Felt tremor, No Damage F.INDIA News Portal
2 Imphal, Manipur, India 93.95 24.82 III Shacking well with 2–3 min Earthquakereport.com
3 Thimphu, Bhutan, India 89.63929 27.472792 III No damage, shaking Earthquakereport.com
4 Allahabad, UP, India 81.84631 25.435801 III Felt it, people run outside Earthquakereport.com
5 Mirzapur, UP, India 82.56443 25.133699 III Chair shaking Earthquakereport.com
6 Lodhi Road, New Delhi, India 77.22791 28.590971 III Fan, door shaking NDTV, India
7 Hooghly, West Bengal, India 88.39 22.9 III Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
8 Howarh, West Bengal, India 88.26364 22.595769 III Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
9 Jaipur, Rajasthan, India 75.78727 26.912434 III Tremors were felt One India, new Channel
10 Cuttack, odisha, India 85.88299 20.462521 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
11 Balasore, odisha, India 86.94266 21.494977 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
12 Jagatsinghpur, odisha, India 86.17062 20.2549 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
13 Bhadrak, odisha, India 86.49584 21.058274 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
14 Kendrapara, odisha, India 86.42885 20.496911 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
15 Mayurbhanj, odisha, India 86.41873 22.008698 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
16 Berhampurj, odisha, India 84.79409 19.314962 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
17 Khurdaj, odisha, India 85.62 20.18 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
18 Sambalpurj, odisha, India 83.98117 21.466872 III Tremors were felt Deccan chronicle
19 Calcutta, West Bengal, India 88.3639 22.572646 III Beds were shaking mildly, tables too Earthquakereport.com
20 Nagpur, Maharastra, India 79.08816 21.1458 III Mild tremors in Nagpur city The New Indian Express
21 Dumka, Jharkhand, India 87.25 24.27 III Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
22 Ranchi, Jharkhand, India 85.30956 23.3441 III Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
23 Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India 86.20288 22.804566 III Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
24 Bhubaneswar, Jharkhand, India 85.82454 20.296059 III Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
25 Bhopal, Jharkhand, India 77.41262 23.259933 III Bed shaking Earthquakereport.com
26 Agartala, Jharkhand, India 91.28678 23.831457 III Fan shaking and some tremble Earthquakereport.com
27 Shahdol, Jharkhand, India 81.3568 23.302188 III Moderate shaking, people came outside Earthquakereport.com
28 Chomolangma, Tibet 86.92531 27.987902 III Earthquake felt The Int. Campaign for Tibet
29 Biratnagar, Nepal 87.2797 26.4542 IV Bed heavily shaking Earthquakereport.com
30 Nawada, Bihar, India 85.53 24.88 IV Bed started to shake suddenly Earthquakereport.com
31 Kanpur, UP, India 80.33187 26.449923 IV Mud building destroyed, tremor felt Aaj Tak, Earthquakereport.com
32 Noida, UP, India 77.39103 28.535516 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
33 Ghaziabad, UP, India 77.45376 28.669156 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
34 Amroha, UP, India 78.46734 28.904354 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
35 Unnao, UP, India 80.48782 26.539345 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
36 Kannauj, UP, India 79.91367 27.051416 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
37 Etah, UP, India 78.66 27.56 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
38 Mathura, UP, India 77.67367 27.492413 IV Felt strongly, people run out India.com
39 Farukkhabad, UP, India 79.58599 27.382769 IV Strong vibrations recorded India.com
40 Pratapgarh, UP, India 81.9453 25.897304 IV Strong vibrations recorded India.com
41 Aligarh, UP, India 78.08 27.9 IV Strong vibrations recorded India.com
42 Varansi, UP, India 82.97391 25.317645 IV Strong vibrations recorded India.com
43 Sultanpur, UP, India 82.07271 26.264776 IV Strong vibrations recorded India.com
44 Rae Bareli, UP, India 81.25 26.23 IV Felt Strongly India.com
45 Firozabad, UP, India 78.39576 27.159101 IV Strong shaking India.com
46 Amethy, UP, India 81.81424 26.154054 IV Felt earthquake Aaj Tak
47 Hathras, UP, India 78.05 27.6 IV Felt earthquake Aaj Tak
48 Purwa, UP, India 80.77132 26.456632 IV Due to a mud house collapse & one died Deccan chronicle
49 Chandausi, UP, India 78.77961 28.448051 IV Just felt, chair was shaking Earthquakereport.com
50 Meerut, UP, India 77.70641 28.984462 IV Shaking mild Earthquakereport.com
51 Agra, UP, India 78.00808 27.17667 IV College wall collapsed NDTV
52 Gurgaon, Hariyana, India 77.02664 28.459497 IV Shaking Earthquakereport.com
53 Malda, West Bengal, India 88.1411 25.010841 IV Mud building collapsed, 40 injured Aaj Tak
54 Jalpai, West Bengal, India 87.87952 22.159115 IV One died due to earthquake Aaj Tak
55 Bankura, West Bengal, India 87.0786 23.232415 IV Tremors were felt The Indian Express
56 Midnapur, WB, India 87.319 22.424 IV Felt earthquake The Indian Express
57 Purulia, West Bengal, India 86.36521 23.332078 IV Tremors were also experienced The Indian Express
58 Burdwan, West Bengal, India 87.86148 23.232421 IV Tremors were also experienced NDTV
59 Nadia, West Bengal, India 88.75301 22.705911 IV Tremors were also experienced NDTV
60 Telipura, West Bengal, India 87.10643 23 IV Wall collapsed, crack in one house The Economic Times
61 Farakka, West Bengal, India 87.9143 24.7976 IV Building was shaking violently Earthquakereport.com
62 Bagar, Aasam, India 92.93757 26.200604 IV Crack in old building NDTV
63 Guwahati, Aasam, India 91.73624 26.144517 IV Crack in old building, tremor felt India.com
64 Jorhat, Aasam, India 94.22 26.75 IV Damaged of property India.com
65 Puri, Odisa, India 86.09851 22.413169 IV Feel earthquake News.biharprabha.com
66 Giridh, Jharkhand, India 86.28695 24.182139 IV Tremors felt Mid-day news
67 Pakur, Jharkhand, India 87.85006 24.633691 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
68 Sahibganj, Jharkhand, India 87.64536 25.238122 IV Strong Tremors were felt The New Indian Express
69 Kalitala, West Bengal, India 88.34432 22.75011 IV Shaking Earthquakereport.com
70 Kakinada, Andhrapradesh, India 82.24747 16.989065 IV Very mild shake for about half a min EARTHQUAKEREPORT.COM
71 Siwan, Bihar, India 84.35666 26.219621 IV People ran out from houses EMSC Report
72 Hameerpur, UP, India 80.82948 27.15229 V House collapsed, one died Aaj Tak
73 Katihar, Bihar, India 87.57186 25.552048 V People injured, run outside Dna india
74 Bhagalpur, Bihar, India 87 25.25 V Wall collapsed, two person died Zee News
75 Munger, Bihar, India 86.465 25.381 V Mud houses collapsed, 11 people injured The Economic Times

(continued on next page)

28 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37

Table 1 (continued)

S. no Place Longitude Latitude MMI Report Source

76 Ballia, Bihar, India 84.14873 25.758438 V Strong tremors were felt The New Indian Express
77 Ayodhya, Bihar, India 82.2 26.8 V Temple roof collapsed One India New channel
78 Lhasa, Tibet 91.17211 29.652491 V Felt earthquake, damaged houses Indian express
79 Yodng, Tibet 88.90703 27.484819 V Severally damaged houses Chinadaily.com.cn
80 Bhutan 90.4336 27.514162 V Strong shaking Karma Doma Tshering, GHI
81 Supaul, Bihar, India 86.60111 26.108333 V One died, jail wall collapsed NDTV
82 Saharsa, Bihar, India 86.60139 25.870556 V Strong Tremors felt DNAINDIA
83 Kishanganj, Bihar, India 87.93722 26.079444 V Strong Shaking www.lovelyheart.com
84 Nalanda, Bihar, India 85.45948 25.12406 V Strong Tremors were felt India.com
85 Lucknow, UP, India 80.94617 26.846694 V Tremors were felt, people fraternal Aaj Tak, One India
86 Haridwar, UK, India 78.16425 29.945691 V Strong Tremors Felt The New Indian Express
87 Rishikesh, UK, India 78.26761 30.086928 V Strong Tremors Felt The New Indian Express
88 Himachal, India 80 30 V Cracks Found The Indian Express
89 Siliguri, West Bengal, India 88.42687 26.708382 V Part of a house fall, cracks India Hindi News
90 Bongaigaon, Aasam, India 90.56 26.48 V Damaged property Eenadu India
91 Gangtok, Sikkim, India 88.6065 27.338936 V Shaking Earthquakereport.com
92 Rudrapur, UK, India 79.4 28.98 V Moderate Shaking for 40 Sec Earthquakereport.com
93 Haldwani, UK, India 79.51298 29.218264 V Shaking Earthquakereport.com
94 Utraula, UP, India 82.42 27.32 V Strong shaking Earthquakereport.com
95 Tingri, Tibet 87.12612 28.658743 V Severe earthquake felt, less damage Chinadaily.com.cn
96 Shelkar, Tibet 87.1408 28.649489 V Some damage of property The Int.Campaign for Tibet
97 Sikkim, India 88.51222 27.532972 V Crack seen in many houses Earthquakereport.com
98 Faizabad, UP, India 82.15 26.77 V Strong vibrations recorded India.com
99 Darjeeling, West Bengal, India 88.26268 27.036007 V Tremors experienced by people The Indian Express
100 Darbhnga, Bihar, India 85.896 26.111868 V Felt Earthquake Allspot.net
101 Manigachi, Nepal 86.01216 26.081058 VI Wall collapsed and roof of a house fallen India Today
102 Shankhamul, Nepal 85.33171 27.68532 VI Strong shaking felt by all Humanity Report
103 Birgunj, Nepal 84.86667 27 VI Cracks in many houses and strong shaking Nepal News Report
104 Inaruwa, Nepal 87.15 26.6025 VI Strong Shaking, cracks on wall Earthquakereport.com
105 Silgadi, Nepal 80.98296 29.265385 VI Moderate damage ABC.NET
106 Dharan, Nepal 87.26667 26.816667 VI Buildings shaking, felt by all Earthquakereport.com
107 Maunath bhanjan, Nepal 83.55865 25.949638 VI Very strong shaking Earthquakereport.com
108 Patna, Bihar, India 85.144 25.611 VI People injured, run our from homes IBN Live
109 Samastipur, Bihar, India 85.78103 25.862968 VI People injured, run our from homes IBN Live
110 Begusarai, Bihar, India 86.12938 25.416675 VI Strong shaking for a min Aaj Tak
111 Madhubani, Bihar, India 86.07155 26.346854 VI Feel earthquake Allspot.net
112 Sitamarhi, Bihar, India 85.48354 26.594513 VI Feel earthquake, three death Allspot.net, ABP Live
113 Muzaffarnagar, Bihar, India 85.36472 26.120888 VI Feel earthquake, cracks on wall Allspot.net
114 Bettiah, Bihar, India 84.50278 26.801389 VI Wall collapsed, two died IB TIMES
115 Raxaul, Bihar, India 84.85306 26.981111 VI Cracks in several houses India today
116 Motihari, Bihar, India 84.91667 26.65 VI Stairs broken of school TIMES OF INDIA
117 Araria, Bihar, India 87.44553 26.131138 VI Roof and wall collapsed, one died India today
118 Gorkhpur, UP, India 83.37317 26.760555 VI Strong tremors were felt The New Indian Express
119 Sant kabir nagar, UP, India 83.03614 26.767176 VI Three deaths were reported India.com
120 Barabanki, UP, India 81.19 26.94 VI Three deaths were reported India.com
121 Balrampur, UP, India 82.1768 27.429706 VI School wall collapsed, felt shaking India.com
122 Shigatse, Tibet 88.88058 29.26687 VI Felt earthquake, damage houses Indian express
123 Nyelam, Tibet 85.98224 28.155186 VI Extensively houses damage Indian express
124 Xigaze, Tibet 88.88058 29.26687 VI 58 injured due to collapsed of houses Chinadaily.com.cn
125 Gyirong, Tibet 85.29754 28.852394 VI Severally affected, building collapsed Chinadaily.com.cn
126 Saga, Tibet 85.23294 29.328818 VI Many temples collapsed Chinadaily.com.cn
127 Zhongba, Tibet 84.03153 29.770279 VI Many houses and heritages damaged Chinadaily.com.cn
128 Burang, Tibet 81.17624 30.294402 VI Severally damaged houses, felt by people Chinadaily.com.cn
129 Gyantse, Tibet 89.60557 28.911659 VI Severally damaged houses, felt by people Chinadaily.com.cn
130 Lhoka, Tibet 91.77313 29.237137 VI Severally damaged houses, felt by people Chinadaily.com.cn
131 Nyingtri, Tibet 94.36149 29.649128 VI Severally damaged house, felt by people Chinadaily.com.cn
132 Dham, Tibet 79.85278 29.638434 VI Road area damages Chinadaily.com.cn
133 Sarlahi, Nepal 85.56121 26.962714 VII One person dead, strong shaking, many Mid-day news, Nepal
building cracked
134 Mount Everest, Nepal 86.92531 27.987902 VII People injured, avalanched take place ABP News
135 Dram, Tibet 85.98325 27.987322 VII Strong Earthquake felt The Int. Campaign for Tibet
136 Zham, Tibet 85.907 27.907 VII Severally damaged, ancient Buddhist sites English.tibet.cn
collapsed
137 Ramacheap, Nepal 86.08333 27.333333 VIII 9 people dead, 18,693 houses completely Arko Asia, Worlds neighbor Canada
destroyed, 22,271 partially
138 Janakpur, Nepal 85.925 26.728611 VIII Janaki Mandir damaged RT LIVE
139 Gausala, Nepal 85.81 26.92 VIII Historical monuments lost forever The Nation Report
140 Patan, Nepal 85.31667 27.666667 VIII Historical temples destroyed fully The Nation Report
141 Tripureshwar, Nepal 85.31491 27.694996 VIII All Temples significant damage The Nation Report
142 Dumra, Nepal 86.56 26.96 VIII Wall Fell Down, Damaged property India Today
143 Thankot, Nepal 85.20236 27.686766 VIII 50,000 houses destroyed EMSC Report
144 Gerkhu, Nepal 85.19 27.96 VIII 80% house damaged EMSC, Report
145 Buttar, Nepal 84.43827 28.373204 VIII 80% house damaged EMSC, Report
146 Nawalparasi, Nepal 83.88971 27.649841 VIII Strong shaking, damaged Earthquakereport.com
147 Ranipauwa, Nepal 85.23926 27.832081 VIII 80% house damaged EMSC, Report
 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37 29

Table 1 (continued)

S. no Place Longitude Latitude MMI Report Source

148 Thamel, Nepal 85.31022 27.715156 IX Major damage Chanda Nepal News Channel
149 Basantpur, Nepal 83.08747 27.486282 IX Major damage Chanda Nepal News Channel
150 Nardevi, Nepal 85.30425 27.707437 IX Major damage Chanda Nepal News Channel
151 Rasuwa, Nepal 86.43333 27.083333 IX Village completely destroyed, 17 died Kantipur TV and Setopati report
152 Bhaktapur, Nepal 85.42778 27.672222 IX Severe shaking and several cracks, severe The New York Times
destruction
153 Nuwakot, Nepal 83.87248 28.137853 IX Buildings and houses destroyed Humanity report
154 Kathmandu, Nepal 85.33333 27.7 IX Strong shaking, All Houses destroyed and NDTV INDIA, Humanity Road – Nepal,
collapsed Social Media Situation Report
155 Balkhu, Nepal 85.29841 27.684867 IX Strong shaking, destroyed buildings The New York Times
156 Kavre, Nepal 85.56121 27.525942 IX Hospitals, Buildings destroyed NDTV Report
157 Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 85.35 27.666667 IX Collapsed buildings and walls including UNICEF
historic buildings
158 Chautara, Nepal 85.7 27.766667 IX Many concrete buildings destroyed India Today
159 Bhumistan, Nepal 83.36251 26.776344 IX 20 villages completely destroyed EMSC, Report
160 Barpak, Nepal 84.742 28.210368 IX Destroyed fully Humanity report
161 Larprak, Nepal 84.79682 28.221206 IX Destroyed fully Humanity report
162 Gorkha, Nepal 84.63333 28.00 IX Many buildings completely destroyed and RT LIVE
also Manakamana Temple
163 Pokhara, Nepal 83.97222 28.263889 IX Buildings, houses destroyed fully The telegraph world news
164 Kabhrepalanchok, Nepal 85.56121 27.525942 IX Palanchok Bhagwati were destroyed and The Nation Report
also many buildings
165 Palpa, Nepal 83.63484 27.825252 IX The Rani Mahal destroyed and historical The Nation Report
buildings
166 Lamjung, Nepal 84.35421 28.276549 IX UNESCO heritage site Dharahara DAMAGED IBN Live
167 Jhochhen, Nepal 85.30684 27.702404 IX Major damaged Chanda Nepal News Channel
168 Sindhupalchwk, Nepal 85.68458 27.951203 IX All Buildings collapsed Humity road report, The Gurdien
169 Makwanpur, Nepal 85.02335 27.554636 IX Churiyamai Was destroyed, building The Nation Report
collapsed
170 Dolakha, Nepal 86.17518 27.778429 IX Temples destroyed The Nation Report
171 Lalitpur, Nepal 85.31667 27.666667 IX No power and no water supply, Many Humanity report, The Nation Report
Temples destroyed
172 Laltang, Nepal 85.58333 28.216667 IX Avalanche overwhelms, over 100 feared Humanity report
dead
173 Dhading, Nepal 84.89848 27.971136 IX 80–90 percent households damaged and BBC News, Heifer International,
collapsed Humanity report
174 Sindhuli, Nepal 85.97132 27.256882 IX Major damaged, People died due to Chanda Nepal News Channel
collapsed
175 Lumjung, Nepal 84.35421 28.276549 IX Entire villages have been damaged Humanity report

Fig. 2. Intensity map of 25th April 2015, Nepal earthquake based on media and published report. Black star shows the epicenter of the event. Red dot shows the location of
MMI value as shown in Table 1. Blue dashed line shows the rupture plane of USGS, where maximum intensity IX has been observed. (For interpretation of the references to
colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

there are numerous correlations that have been published for var-
ious regions (Gupta, 1980; Wu et al., 2003; Tselentis and Danciu,
2008; Prajapati et al., 2013). Wald et al. (1999) have observed that
low levels of the shaking intensities correlate fairly well with both
the PGA and PGV, while high intensities correlate best with the
PGV. Boatwright et al. (2001) observed that PGV correlates better
with intensities than the PGA, based on their studies carried out
using both PGA and PGV for the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
In this study, we have made an attempt to develop an empir-
ical relationship between intensity versus PGA and PGV using
data from the recent Nepal earthquake that was recorded on a
number of strong-motion accelerographs installed along the
30 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37

Table 2
Table shows the PGA, PGV and their assigned Intensity at Indian and Nepal Sites with rupture distance and site geology.

Station Station code Longitude Latitude Intensity PGA (g) PGV (cm/s) Rupture distance (km) Site geology
Jaunpur JAN 82.690 25.730 4 0.0219 3.07 311 Alluvium
Hardoi HAR 80.130 27.400 5 0.0089 1.74 474 Alluvium
Kishanganj KIS 87.950 26.100 5 0.0414 15.86 254 Alluvium
Laharpur LAH 80.890 27.410 5 0.0150 2.30 392 Alluvium
Lakhimpur LAK 80.790 27.950 5 0.0146 2.28 398 Alluvium
Patna PTN 85.150 25.620 5 0.0480 4.28 218 Alluvium
Bageswar BAG 79.770 29.830 5 0.0048 0.52 549 Quartzite
Kamedevi KAM 80.916 26.783 5 0.0033 0.56 406 Granite
Askot ASK 80.337 29.766 5 0.0088 0.86 489 Crystalline
Berinag BER 80.070 29.800 5 0.0034 0.61 517 Quartzite
Kapkot KAP 79.850 29.900 5 0.0057 0.46 544 Dolomite
Knalichina KNA 80.270 29.676 5 0.0057 0.61 492 Quartzite
Pithoragarh PIT 80.330 30.000 5 0.0124 0.77 500 Limestone
Darbhanga DAR 85.900 26.120 6 0.0753 11.40 133 Alluvium
Utraula UTR 82.410 27.310 6 0.0426 4.48 231 Alluvium
Bagha BGH 84.060 27.130 7 0.0590 8.38 100 Alluvium
MaharjGanj MAH 83.540 27.140 7 0.0635 10.83 132 Alluvium
Motihari MOT 84.900 26.630 7 0.0805 11.29 126 Alluvium
Raxaul RAX 84.840 26.980 8 0.0606 0.20 88 Alluvium
Kantipur KAN 85.316 27.712 9 0.1859 82.62 0 Sediment

Fig. 3. (a) Distribution of PGA with rupture distance. (b) Distribution of PGV with rupture distance.

Indo-gangetic plain and, lesser Himalaya as well as in Kathmandu Table 3

(Table 2). Data of one station run by USGS at Kantipath is also Regression coefficients of Eq. (1) to predict MMI from the maximum values of the
used. Indian strong motion network recorded 2015 Nepal earth- ground-motion parameters (PGA and PGV).

quake at 21 sites. The network is installed and maintained by Ground-motion parameters MMIPGA = a + b log10(PGA)+mM + r log10(R)
Department of Earthquake Engineering, IIT Roorkee under + sS + e
mission mode project funded by Ministry of Earth Sciences, MMIPGV = a + b log10(PGV) + r log10(R) + sS + e

New Delhi. The PGA and PGV distribution with respect to rupture Regression coefficients Values Standard error t p value
distance is shown in Fig. 3a and b. The predictive MMI equation, PGA (cm/s2)
dependent on magnitude, PGA/PGV, epicentral distance and a 18.10 3.40 5.31 0.00006
the local site conditions is derived by fitting the maximum values b 0.53 0.68 0.77 0.0540
r 4.69 1.09 4.28 0.00059
of the ground-motion parameters using a weighted least-squares
m 0 0 0 0
regression technique. s 1.64 0.46 3.57 0
A multiple linear regression analysis is performed on ground rPGA-MMI 0.57
motion and intensities data using Eq. (1). PGV (cm/s)
a 18.98 1.95 8.53 0.000023
MMI ðPredictedÞ ¼ a þ b log10 ðPGA or PGVÞ þ mM b 0.0095 0.28 1.04 0.31
4.87 6.006
þ r log10 ðRÞ þ sS þ eMMI
r 0.81 0.005
ð1Þ
s 1.36 0.40 3.92 0.0012
rPGV-MMI 0.56
where MMI is predicted from ground motion parameters (PGA or
PGV), M is the moment magnitude, R is the epicentral distance, S
is a soil category (0 for rock sites and 1 for soft soil sites), a, b, m, tor variables and the response variable. The p-value for each vari-
r, and s are regression coefficients, and eMMI is an error term with able term in the equation is determined which tests the null
mean zero. hypothesis that the coefficient is equal to zero (no effect). A low
The regression coefficients for PGA and PGV were obtained from p-value (<0.05) indicates that we can reject the null hypothesis.
the data set by using multiple linear regression technique and In other words, a predictor that has a low p-value is likely to be
listed in Table 3. Regression analysis generates an equation, which a meaningful addition to a model because changes in the predic-
describes the statistical relationship between one or more predic- tor’s value are related to the changes in the response variable.
 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37 31

Conversely, a larger (insignificant) p-value suggests that changes in
the predictor are not associated with changes in the response. In
regression, t value is the coefficient divided by its standard error.
The standard deviation values are listed in Table 3 and show that
the variability in the prediction of the MMI is low. Though the
standard deviation values are smaller, still we cannot empirically
predict the MMI better than about one-half unit. The standard
deviation values obtained for the present relationship matches
with global relationships (
0.5).
After multiple regressions analysis, following relationships
between MMI and PGA/PGV are developed:
MMI ðPGAÞ ¼ 18:10 þ 0:53log10 ðPGAÞ  4:69 log10 ðRÞ
 1:64S þ 0:57 ð2Þ
MMI ðPGVÞ ¼ 18:98 þ 0:0095log10 ðPGVÞ  4:87 log10 ðRÞ
 1:36S þ 0:56 ð3Þ
Fig. 4a and b shows a plot of PGA-MMI and PGV-MMI for the
2015 Nepal earthquake with minimum e using Eqs. (2) and (3),
respectively. In Fig. 4a, inset, we have plotted the MMI residuals
(observed-predicted) for Eq. (2) versus distance and PGA and

Fig. 4. (a) Plot of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) Vs observed MMI. The dot line shows the fit between MMI Vs PGA using Eq. (1). In Inset, plot of residual MMI Vs distance
and PGAmax. (b) Plot of Peak Ground velocity (PGV) Vs observed MMI. The dot line shows the fit between MMI Vs PGV using Eq. (1). In Inset, plot of residual MMI Vs distance
and PGVmax.

Fig. 5. Observed Vs calculated MMI with rms. The red lines show the good fit. The calculated MMI is based on the empirical relation (shown in Table 4) given by Murphy and
O’Brien, 1977, Wald et al. 1999 and Linkimer, 2008 for California, Western USA, Japan, Costa Rica regions respectively. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this
figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
32 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37

Table 4 quake. It has also been observed that PGA values are scattered by
Correlation between PGA and MMI based on available relation for various regions. single intensity unit. Murphy and O’ Brien (1977) and Wald et al.
Region Empirical relation Reference (1999) have also reported the same (Fig. 5). This may be due to
Nepal Region MMI(PGA) = 17.47 + 0.261 log10 Present study the fact that the PGA simplifies the complexity of ground shaking
(PGA)  4.40 log10 (R) + 0.69 without considering factors, such as duration, spectral content,
(III < MMI < IX) which may considerably affect the MMI estimate. MMI is a subjec-
Sikkim, Northeast MMI(PGA) = 12.31 + 0.49 log10 Prajapati tive description of human response and damage to building due to
India (PGA)  2.30 log10 (R) + 0.50 et al. (2013)
Costa Rica MMI = 2.30 log(PGAmax) + 0.92 Linkimer
the ground shaking. Therefore numerous factors may affect the
(II > MMI > V) (2008) MMI estimate at a particular site. Another aspect that contributes
Costa Rica MMI = 3.82 log(PGAmax)  1.78 Linkimer to the scatter is that PGA refers to a maximum value at a single
(V > MMI > VII) (2008) point as opposed to MMI that refers to a maximum or average level
Western USA, MMI = 2.86 log(PGAmax) + 1.24 Murphy and
of damage and earthquake effect throughout an area. Further, PGA-
Japan, Southern (IV < MMI < X) O’Brien
Europe (1977) based intensity is particularly useful in real-time applications for
Western USA, MMI = 4.00 log(PGAmax)  1.00 Murphy and damage prediction and generating shake maps.
Japan, Southern (IV < MMI < VIII) O’Brien
Europe (1977) 5. Relationships between magnitude/intensity versus epicentral
California MMI = 2.20 log(PGAmax) + 1.00 Wald et al.
(MMI < V) (1999)
distance
California MMI = 3.66log(PGAmax)  1.66 Wald et al.
(V < MMI < VIII) (1999) Intensity increases with the amplitude and duration of the
ground shaking, and depends mainly on the duration of the shak-
ing, but there is no generally accepted relationship of intensity to
similarly in Fig. 4b we have plotted the MMI residuals versus dis- any specific ground-motion parameter. Intensity tends to increase
tance and PGV for Eq. (3). In summary, the MMI prediction from with earthquake magnitude and decrease with D (epicentral dis-
the ground motion parameters appears to be more significant tance). The variation in the intensity values at the same D can be
when other parameters such as magnitude, epicentral distance, attributed to azimuthal variations in the radiated energy, differ-
and local soil conditions are involved in the predictive model. ences in wave propagation through crustal and upper-mantle
We have also tried various available attenuation relationships structure, and near-site amplification factors, including the geo-
(PGA Vs Intensity) developed for different regions of the world to logic foundation beneath the site and the sensitivity of the built
estimate the intensity value from the observed PGA of Nepal earth- environment.
quake. These intensity values are compared with the observed To mitigate the effects of the earthquakes, it is very important
intensity values of Nepal earthquake (Fig. 5, Table 4). It has been to understand attenuation characteristics of the medium between
observed that the values obtained from Linkimer (2008) for the the source and the site. Several studies have been carried out to
Costa Rica region and Prajapati et al., 2013 for Sikkim region develop empirical relationships worldwide. These relationships
moderately fit with the intensities derived for 2015 Nepal earth- are useful for geotechnical applications, such as microzonation

Fig. 6. Intensity map of historical earthquakes (1934 Bihar-Nepal, 1988 Udaipur, 2011 Sikkim-Nepal). Red star show the epicenter of earthquake. (Modified after Pandey and
Molnar, 1988; GSI, 1993; Prajapati et al., 2013). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37
and hazard assessment at a regional scale. Also, these can be used
for generating shake maps in near real-time. Szeliga et al. (2010)
derived a new intensity attenuation relation for the Indian sub-
continent and the Himalaya region and compared it with the
intensity attenuation of the central and eastern North America.
In the present study, we have made an attempt to derive an
attenuation relationship using the intensity data of the 2015
Nepal earthquake and intensity data of some historical earth-
quakes that have occurred in the Nepal region and whose inten-
sity maps are available. To derive the attenuation relation for
entire Nepal Himalaya region, MMI and distances from the inten-
sity isoseismal map of historical (1934 Bihar-Nepal, Western
Nepal 1980, Udaipur 1988, and 2011 Sikkim-Nepal) earthquakes
(Pandey and Molnar, 1988; GSI, 1993; Prajapati et al., 2013)
(Fig. 6) along with recent 2015 Nepal earthquake have been used.
We converted historical intensity into MMI scale and then used a
simple relationship where intensity is a function of magnitude
and distance as proposed by Anderson (1978) and William and
Boore (1981).
The basic relationship is
X
N
IðR; MÞ ¼ ai Ei  c  R  d  logðRÞ
i¼1
Ei ¼ 1; for earthquake i ¼ 0 otherwise
ai , b, c are determined by the linear regression for individual earth-
quakes, once ai is obtained, it can used to find magnitude
dependence
ai ¼ a þ b  M
We have found a = 2.40, b = 1.35, c = 0.00297, d = 2.117
values.
I ¼ 2:40 þ 1:35  Mw  0:00297  R  2:11  logðRÞ
The intensities obtained using Eq. (4) for historical earthquakes
are plotted with respect to epicentral distance (Fig. 7a) for recent
2015 Nepal earthquake. It has been observed that, for Nepal
Fig. 7. (a) Distance Vs MMI plot of historical earthquake of Nepal Himalaya region. Black dot shows the digitized Intensity for 1934 Bihar-Nepal, 1988 Udaipur, 2011 Sikkim-
Nepal and blue dot is calculated value from Eq. (5) with its rms. (b) Distance Vs MMI plot of Nepal earthquake 2015 as well as plot of attenuation relations of different regions
of the world for comparative study. The calculated MMI with rms (blue filled circle) is based on empirical relation derived from historical earthquake. (For interpretation of
the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
33
Himalaya, a simple attenuation model is adequate to determine
intensity at a given distance. We tried to compare the attenuation
relation developed for Nepal Himalaya region with similar rela-
tionships developed for different regions of the world and India
(Howel and Schultz, 1975; Gupta and Nuttli, 1976; Bollinger,
1977; Anderson, 1978; Chandra et al., 1979; Tilford et al., 1985;
Sbar and Dubois, 1984; Ghosh and Mahajan, 2011; Szeliga et al.,
2010; Prajapati et al., 2013). The recent attenuation relationship
developed for Nepal region matches well with that of Kangra
region (Ghosh and Mahajan, 2011) and Northern Sonara region
(Sbar and Dubios, 1984) (Fig. 7b).
To determine the characteristic site frequencies at each site
where SMA recordings are available, response spectral plots at
each site were produced (Fig. 8). The characteristic site frequency,
the frequency at which maximum spectral acceleration is
observed, (Table 5) has major implications towards seismic hazard
analysis.
6. Results and discussions
In the present study we have prepared an intensity map for the
ð4Þ
25th April 2015 Nepal earthquake based on damages reported in
various print and electronic media and some reports. The intensity
map, allowed us to map out the general distribution of shaking
effects; it will also ultimately provide insight into the potential
biases associated with the determination of intensities based solely
on media accounts. Such results are expected to be very useful, as
the 2015 earthquake has important implications for earthquake
hazard, not only in Nepal Himalaya region, but also in the central
ð5Þ
as well as northern part of India. The results are comparable with
recent micro-seismal observations and damage survey reports
complied by various institutes (Goda et al., 2015; Humanity Road
report, 2015; Report by Omer and Resat, 2015). Near to epicenter
ð6Þ
most of the old buildings are leveled. Away from the epicenteral
region, intensities amplified significantly in certain regions mostly
on alluvium plains. The pattern of isoseismal contour is ellipsoidal
in nature and oriented WNW-ESE direction and corroborates with
34 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37

Fig. 8. Response spectral plots along with time histories of Bagha (BGH), Kishanganj (KIS), Lakhimpur (LAK), Raxaul (RAX) and Utrala (UTR) sites located in Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar.
 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37 35

Fig. 8 (continued)

Table 5 the fault plane solution, which confirm the possible rupture plane
Predominant frequencies at various strong motion sites located in Uttar Pradesh,
(Fig. 2).
Bihar states of India and Nepal region.
The intensity scales have been developed to quantify the sever-
Station Station code Predominant frequency (Hz) ity of the ground shaking on the basis of observed or felt effects in a
Jaunpur JAN 6.6 limited area. Felt intensity scales depend on geological conditions,
Hardoi HAR 1.7 the response of the structures, the uncertainty related to the con-
Kishanganj KIS 3.4
struction’s condition before the earthquake, the type of construc-
Laharpur LAH 3.4
Lakhimpur LAK 6.6 tion, and the density of population. However, a physical based
Patna PTN 3.3 ground-motion measure is needed for engineering purposes. With
Bageswar BAG 8.3 the advent of instrumental seismology, the correlation between
Kamedevi KAM 9.9 the felt intensity with ground-motion parameters has generated
Askot ASK 4.4
Berinag BER 7.7
lot of interest. This offers the opportunity to transform observed
Kapkot KAP 6.6 data (intensity) into widely used parameters that are useful for
Knalichina KNA 3.1 engineering purposes. This can also help in estimating these
Pithoragarh PIT 3.4 parameters for the historical earthquakes for which no instrumen-
Darbhanga DAR 2.6
tal data are available, to assess seismic hazard and damages, to
Utraula UTR 2.9
Bagha BGH 4.6 correlate different intensity scales, and to rapidly assess the sever-
MaharjGanj MAH 4.0 ity of ground shaking (Wald et al., 1999). To analyze the degree of
Motihari MOT 2.0 correlation between the ground-motion parameters and the
Raxaul RAX 5.7 observed intensity, an attempt has been made to correlate the felt
Kantipur KAN 2.5
intensity information with the strong-motion data recorded at 21
36 S.K. Prajapati et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 133 (2017) 24–37
locations for the 25th Nepal earthquake, covering the epicentral
distances 70–500 km. For each PGA value, we assigned the
intensity based on isoseismal map prepared for the 2015 Nepal
earthquake. A multiple regression analysis between PGA-MMI
and PGV-MMI has been carried out to obtain regression relations.
An empirical relationship developed here may be biased due to les-
ser volume of data for lower intensities. Additional data may
change the correlation as has been observed in other regions of
world (Wald et al., 1999). Currently, for Nepal region, the data is
not sufficient to determine correlation for a particular range of
focal depths, and hypocentral distances. Hence, the relationship
derived in this study may be improved with the addition of more
and more observations as and when they become available.
Further, seismic intensity information of historical earthquakes
that have occurred in the Nepal Himalayas region have been uti-
lized for determining the attenuation of the intensity with the epi-
central distance. A two-step regression analysis has been carried
out to determine the attenuation of intensity with magnitude
and distance for the studied region. The regression curve with
residuals are obtained and shown in Fig. 7a. The attenuation rela-
tionship developed from the present analysis is compared with
similar relationships developed for other regions of the world. It
was found that the intensity attenuation of present study is close
to Kangra region of NW Himalaya and northern Sonara region
(Fig. 7b) (Ghosh and Mahajan, 2011; Sbar and Dubois, 1984) By
studying the attenuation of intensity with distance, an insight into
the attenuation characteristics of the region can be made. It has
been observed that attenuation in the Nepal region is more as com-
pared to the other Himalaya region, central Eastern US, Cordillera,
Southeast US, western US and Iran whereas the attenuation in
Greece region is more than the Nepal Himalaya.
Response spectral studies were also carried out at stations is
Indo-Gangetic plains. It was found that characteristic site frequen-
cies of most of the sites in Indo-Gangetic plains vary between 0.2 s
to 0.4 s (Table 5) in horizontal components (Fig. 8), which is
expected from deep basins. The spectral accelerations at these
characteristic site frequencies vary from around 30 cm/s2 to
230 cm/s2. This implies that 2–4 story buildings were subjected
to such accelerations, which may damage poorly constructed
structures. The rupture directivity effect on the recorded data can
easily be seen on the time history of Kishanganj (KISH) site. The
site is located SE to the epicenter, which is the direction in which
the rupture was propagated.
7. Conclusions
We have prepared an intensity map for the 25th April 2015
Nepal earthquake based on print and electronics media and other
reports from various organizations. A maximum intensity of IX
was assigned to this seismic event. The isoseismal shows a general
NW-SE trend, indicating the possible direction of the rupture prop-
agation. Most of the damaged areas are concentrated towards
southeast of the epicenter where intensity values vary from VIII
to V, which may be due to the directivity or local site effects. We
have developed empirical relationships between the ground
motion parameters (PGA and PGV) and intensity for this earth-
quake. The motivation behind such correlations has been to extend
our knowledge on measuring the earthquake intensity and the
earthquake damage potential for the Central Himalaya region. An
attenuation relationship for the earthquake is also developed as a
function of epicentral distance and magnitude using intensity
maps of major historical earthquakes that have occurred in the
region. These relationships can be used for generating shake map
for the Himalaya region and other engineering applications. The
response spectral analysis has shown that in Indo-Gangetic plains,
if a large earthquake occurs in Himalaya, 2–4 story buildings are
more vulnerable as the characteristic site frequencies of this region
matches with the natural periods of such buildings.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Secretary, Ministry of Earth
Sciences, Government of India for support and encouragement.
Authors highly acknowledge the IIT Roorkee for providing strong
motion data. Authors gratefully thanks to both anonymous review-
ers for their valuable comments and suggestions which helped us
to improve the original manuscript.
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