Article: Risks of seismic activities on built environment in Nigeria Journal: International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development (IJESD) 2019 Vol.18 No.3 pp.259 - 269 Abstract: Buildings are designed to be safe to prevent collapse caused by natural or man-made factors. Until recently, Nigeria was believed to be aseismic due to its distance from earthquake zones. However, recent seismic activities have led to the prediction of possible future earthquake occurrence in Nigeria. This study estimates the impact of seismic hazard on the built environment in Nigeria. A model is created to estimates the number of casualties and built areas that would be affected by earthquake of different ground motions. Monte Carlo simulation is used to derive random data of building area, occupancy limits, construction quality (CQ) and failure probability (Pf) for the computational analysis. The results showed that an average seismic intensity measure will affect between 1,000-1,060 km<SUP align="right"><SMALL>2</SMALL></SUP> of building area and about 6.5-6.9 million people will be affected. Consequently, these huge losses require urgent mitigating efforts to reduce risks of damages when earthquake occur. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Risks of seismic activities on built environment in Nigeria

Authors: Akpabot I. Akpabot; Anthony N. Ede; Oluwarotimi M. Olofinnade; Gideon O. Bamigboye

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, Km 10, Idiroko Road, P.M.B 1023, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria ' Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, Km 10, Idiroko Road, P.M.B 1023, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria ' Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, Km 10, Idiroko Road, P.M.B 1023, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria ' Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, Km 10, Idiroko Road, P.M.B 1023, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract: Buildings are designed to be safe to prevent collapse caused by natural or man-made factors. Until recently, Nigeria was believed to be aseismic due to its distance from earthquake zones. However, recent seismic activities have led to the prediction of possible future earthquake occurrence in Nigeria. This study estimates the impact of seismic hazard on the built environment in Nigeria. A model is created to estimates the number of casualties and built areas that would be affected by earthquake of different ground motions. Monte Carlo simulation is used to derive random data of building area, occupancy limits, construction quality (CQ) and failure probability (Pf) for the computational analysis. The results showed that an average seismic intensity measure will affect between 1,000-1,060 km² of building area and about 6.5-6.9 million people will be affected. Consequently, these huge losses require urgent mitigating efforts to reduce risks of damages when earthquake occur.

Keywords: reinforced-concrete; building collapse; seismic-risks; built area; ground motion; construction quality; built environment; seismic intensity; Monte Carlo simulation; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2019.101009

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2019 Vol.18 No.3, pp.259 - 269

Accepted: 15 Nov 2018
Published online: 09 Jul 2019 *

Full-text access for editors Access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article

Title: Risks of seismic activities on built environment in Nigeria

Keep up-to-date