Assessment of earthquake potential zones in Bihar, India, and eastern Nepal using integrated remote sensing and GIS techniques

• The study uses remote sensing, GIS, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process to calculate the Earthquake Potential Index (EPI) for Bihar and eastern Nepal using topography, gravity, and seismotectonic data. • The EPI map classifies the area into high, moderate, low, and very low zones, with northern Bihar showing the highest potential. • The results align with traditional seismic hazard maps and effectively identify seismically vulnerable districts for disaster preparedness planning. The Bihar state, India, and adjoining areas of eastern Nepal have experienced several devastating earthquakes in the last two centuries. The high population density, improper urban planning, and substandard construction make the study area highly vulnerable to earthquakes that necessitate identifying potential earthquake zones. The present study applies integrated remote sensing and the Geographical Information System (GIS) technique to calculate the study area's earthquake potential index (EPI) based on Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, EIGEN-6C4 gravity data, and seismotectonic data. A numerical ranking scheme has been adopted, based on a knowledge-driven statistical technique, Analytical Hierarchy Process, for data integration in GIS to establish rank values for each factor taken into consideration to appraise the EPI map. The final EPI map divides the region into four potential earthquake zones: high, moderate, low, and very low. The present analysis reveals that the major part of the northern part of the study area falls under high while the southwestern part falls under very low EPI zone. Our calculated EPI corroborates with the seismic hazard maps derived from traditional techniques. Moreover, we have found that 90 (approximately) and 100 percent of earthquakes of magnitude greater than 3.0 and 5.0 in the last two years lie in the high EPI zone, respectively, reflecting our result's high efficacy. Also, based on a joint analysis of EPI and Peak Ground Acceleration, seismically highly vulnerable districts have been identified. This makes the study very useful to the government authorities in earthquake preparedness initiatives.