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Risk assessments on active faults in Taiwan

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Abstract

Engineering risk assessment is to estimate the structure’s failure probability multiplied by its failure consequences. On the other hand, the analysis was sometimes performed on a more general basis, utilizing a few indicators to quantify relative risk levels for decision-making. On the basis of such a framework, this paper introduces a novel risk assessment on 18 active faults in Taiwan, considering the fault’s location, earthquake size and return period from the literature. The result shows that the Chelungpu Fault in central Taiwan has the highest risk score among the 18 active faults, in contrast to the Hengchun Fault in southern Taiwan which has the lowest risk. Besides this, the 18 active faults in Taiwan were classified into four groups based on this risk assessment, and the classification could help the region’s sustainable development against earthquake hazard.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the valuable comments from Editor Dr. Culshaw and the reviewers, making this submission much improved in so many aspects. We also appreciate the Ministry of Interior and Central Geological Survey of Taiwan for providing GIS data for the analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    J. P. Wang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Min-Hao Wu

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  1. J. P. Wang
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  2. Min-Hao Wu
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Correspondence to Min-Hao Wu.

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Wang, J.P., Wu, MH. Risk assessments on active faults in Taiwan. Bull Eng Geol Environ 74, 117–124 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-014-0600-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-014-0600-1

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