Evaluation of the destructive potential of the 1997-1998 earthquake ground motion in the town of Sellano

The 1997-1998 Umbria-Marche earthquake sequence was characterised by a relatively moderate magnitude (ML = 5-6). Despite that, the earthquake caused extensive damage in different towns, such as in the town of Sellano. Different earthquakes have affected Sellano in the past. In particular, after the earthquakes of 1979 and 1984 most of the buildings of the old centre of Sellano were subjected to intensive seismical remedial works. Nevertheless, many of these buildings suffered significant damage during the 1997-1998 earthquake sequence. The acceleration is widely utilised in seismic routine design; nevertheless, the structure damage analysis and ground motion records obtained in the recent earthquakes indicate a need for the evaluation of other parameters than acceleration to describe the complex relationship between the ground motion and structure damage. The aim of this work is to present new microzonation maps of the PGAPGV ratio, Arias Intensity (Ia,) and destructiveness potential factor (Pd) at the soil surface for the town of Sellano. © 2003 WIT Press.