Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment of Existing Municipalities of Kavre Valley (Existing Banepa, Dhulikhel and Panauti)

A probabilistic seismic hazard assessment focusing on peak ground acceleration at the bedrock level for the existing municipalities of Kavre Valley, namely Banepa, Panauti, and Dhulikhel, has been conducted. A comprehensive catalogue of both historical and recent seismic events within a 350 km radius of Banepa, Panauti, and Dhulikhel has been assembled, and new seismotectonic and seismic distribution maps for the area have been created. The study proposes twenty-five areal sources. These sources were characterized and identified by plotting the refined catalogue on a map of Nepal. The data's completeness was verified. Subsequently, earthquake data keywords were statistically analyzed for all areal sources, and the seismicity around the city sites, along with the magnitude-frequency relationship, was assessed by defining the 'a' and 'b' parameters of the Gutenberg-Richter recurrence relationship for the respective areal sources. Finally, probabilistic hazard maps indicating a 10% and 2% probability of exceedance over 50 years were developed for the study area.