Reconnaissance report and preliminary ground motion simulation of the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake |
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Authors: | Louise Wedderkopp Bjerrum Kuvvet Atakan Mathilde Bøttger Sørensen |
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Institution: | (1) USGS, 94025 Menlo Park, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | The M
w = 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, caused destruction over a wide area. The earthquake cost more than 69,000 lives
and the damage is reported to have left more than 5 million people homeless. It is estimated that 5.36 million buildings were
destroyed and 21 million buildings were damaged in Sichuan and the nearby provinces. Economic losses due to the event are
estimated to be 124 billion USD. From a field reconnaissance trip conducted in October 2008, it is evident that the combination
of several factors, including mountainous landscape, strong ground shaking, extensive landslides and rock-falls, has exacerbated
the human and economic consequences of this earthquake. Extensive damage occurred over a wide area due to the shear size of
the earthquake rupture combined with poor quality building construction. In order to investigate the ground shaking during
the earthquake, we have conducted a strong ground motion simulation study, applying a hybrid broadband frequency technique.
The preliminary results show large spatial variation in the ground shaking, with the strongest ground motions along the fault
plane. The simulation results have been calibrated against the recorded ground motion from several near-field stations in
the area, and acceleration values of the order of 1 g are obtained, similar to what was recorded during the event. Comparison
with the damage distribution observed in the field confirms that the effect of fault rupture complexity on the resulting ground
motion distribution also controls to a large extent the damage distribution. The applied simulation technique provides a promising
platform for predictive studies. |
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