SEISMIC HAZARD AND RISK IN THE BRAZILIAN NORTHEAST
Seismic Hazard, Seismic Risk, PSHA, AHP, Brazilian Northeast
Although Brazil is located in the intraplate region and its seismicity is considered low in relation to plate boundary regions, it is not negligible, especially in the northeast region. For this reason, in this research the purpose is to evaluate the seismic hazard and seismic risk for a northeastern region of Brazil, with more attention to the states of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) and Ceará (CE). For the calculation of the seismic hazard will be used the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA), the most commonly used method to estimate the seismic hazard. For the calculation of the seismic risk will be used the multiple criteria decision analysis method Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), method that has been used successfully to map areas of seismic risk in different parts of the world. Thus, with the proposed study, we want to produce seismic hazard maps for the Northeast region and for the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará, showing the regions with the highest probability of exceeding of ground motion with relation a certain parameter (acceleration). After that, we want to produce seismic risk maps for the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará, showing the most susceptible regions to be damaged in case of earthquakes. Finally, we want that this work will become an important support material for that engineering can minimize the possible damages caused by future earthquakes in the studied regions.