Evaluation of the Need for Seismic Microzonation in Bonab County based on Regional Considerations and Probabilistic Earthquake Hazard Analysis from the Vicinity of Urmia Lake toward the Hillsides of Sahand Mountain

Earthquake can be considered as the most important environmental excitation because of its massive destructivity within a short period of time. Prediction of earthquakes is still a dilemma (Wang, 2015). The questions are also available about the effectiveness of prediction, if possible. It is clear that the society will not be safe with only the prediction of earthquakes. Earthquake protection of structures is required as the main solution. The quality of this protection depends mainly on the quality of the estimation of possible earthquakes. In this regard, earthquake hazard analysis should be followed by seismic microzonation in order to account for the site effects. Evaluation of the need for such a detailed study is carried out for Bonab County, which is the second industrial city in the province of East Azerbaijan after the capital city (Tabriz), being also important because of its cultural heritage. The other motivation for this study comes from the change in the seismicity of the neighboring region referred to the 4th edition of the Iranian code of practice for seismic resistant design of buildings (Standard No. 2800) when compared with the 3rd edition of this standard (PCIRC, 2007).