A simplified approach to the global seismic hazard assessment

Some earthquakes in recent years (such as Tangshan earthquake (1976, China), North Ridge earthquake (1994, USA), Kobe earthquake (1995, Japan)) did not occur in known faults; moreover, the detailed data of geology, earthquake, crust deformation, etc. needed by the fault model are very difficult to obtain in many regions of the world. A simplified method of global seismic hazard analysis is developed, based on an area source model and by using seismicity data, and the global seismic hazard map is compiled. To evaluate the effectiveness and credibility of the new method, comparison study of this map with the existing national maps has been performed, which implies that it is considerably valuable to apply this method to practical use.