Abstract
The development of a damage scenario following an earthquake swarm event in high-risk areas, such as the inland Sea of Galilee (SoG) in Israel, is critical for significantly increasing public awareness in preparation for a strong earthquake event. Following the earthquake swarms in 2013 and 2020 that occurred near the Dead Sea Fault (DSF) system in the SoG, the present study adopts a conservative approach to damage scenario development, maintaining that these events should be treated as precursory swarms. Accordingly, different damage and loss scenarios were developed using the 2020 Federal Emergency Management Agency software program Hazus and new in-house spatial analysis and postprocessing tools. The results of the scenario analyses confirm that the most intensive damage is expected to be concentrated around the SoG, especially in the adjacent city, Tiberias, if a moderate earthquake (Mw ∼ 6) occurred soon thereafter along the DSF system. In contrast, if a stronger earthquake (Mw ∼ 7) was to occur, the damage may spread to distant cities, such as Beit She’an and Haifa (distances of more than 50 km). Considering the potentially high number of casualties, intensive damage to buildings and essential facilities, high economic loss, blockages of main roads due to slope failures, and weight of debris expected to accumulate near the SoG, we stress the importance of immediate action on the part of civil protection agencies based on the present scenarios to promote the readiness of the population and significantly reduce the anticipated disaster magnitude.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ambraseys NN (2009) Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East: a multidisciplinary study of seismicity up to 1900. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ambraseys NN, Melville CP (1988) An analysis of the Eastern Mediterranean Earthquake of 20 May 1202. In: Lee WHK, Meyers H, Shimazaki K (eds) Historical seismograms and earthquakes of the World. Academic, London, pp 181–200
Amit R, Zilberman E, Enzel Y, Porat N (2002) Paleoseismic evidence for time dependency of seismic response on a fault system in the southern Arava valley, Dead Sea rift. Isr Geol Soc Am Bull 114:192–206
Avni R (1999) The 1927 Jericho Earthquake, Comprehensive Macroseismic Analysis based on contemporary sources. (PhD). Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva
Baer G, Funning GJ, Shamir G, Wright TJ (2008) The 1995 November 22, mw 7.2 Gulf of Elat earthquake cycle revisited. Geophys J Int 175:1040–1054
Begin BZ (2005) Destructive earthquakes in the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea – their recurrence intervals and the probability of their occurrence. Geological Survey of Israel. Report GSI/12/05
Ben-Menahem A, Nur A, Vered M (1976) Tectonics, seismicity and structure of the afro-eurasian junction—the breaking of an incoherent plate. Phys Earth Planet Inter 12:1–50
Bogoch R, Sneh A (2008) The geological map of Israel at 1:50,000 scale: Arbel sheet. The Geological Survey of Israel
Calvo R, Salamon A (2016) Toward a CO2 sequestration project in the jurassic saline aquifer of southern Israel: seismotectonic characterization. Int J Greenh Gas Control 47:48–62
Campbell KW, Bozorgina Y (2008) NGA ground motion model for the geometric mean horizontal component of PGA, PGV, PGD and 5% damped linear elastic response spectra for periods ranging from 0.01 to 10 s. Earthq Spectra 24:139–171
Central Bureau of Statistics (2022) www.cbs.gov.il/he/settlements/Pages/default.aspx?mode=Yeshuv
Chandriyan H, Reddy R, Roy PNS (2022) Numerical precursory study on strong earthquakes in southern and Baja California. Geosyst Geoenvironment 1(100066):1–11
Chaulagain H, Rodrigues H, Jara J, Spacone E, Varum H (2013) Seismic response of current RC buildings in Nepal: a comparative analysis of different design/construction. Eng Struct 49:284–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2012.10.036
Clemett N, Wladimir W, Gallo C, O’Reilly GJ, Gabbianelli G, Monteiro R (2022) Optimal seismic retrofitting of existing buildings considering environmental impact. Engineering Structures 250: 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2021.113391
Coburn AW, Spence RJS (1992) Factors determining human casualty levels in Earthquakes: Mortality Prediction in Building Collapse, Proceedings of the 10 WCEE, Madrid, Spain: 5989–5994
Daeron M, Klinger Y, Tapponnier P, Elias A, Jacques E, Sursock A (2005) Sources of the large A. D. 1202 and 1759 Near East earthquakes. Geology 33:529–532
Dumaru R, Rodrigues H, Varum H (2019) Cost-benefit analysis of retrofitted non-engineered and engineered buildings in Nepal using probabilistic approach. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 122:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2019.04.004
Ellenblum R, Marco S, Agnon A, Rockwell T, Boas A (1998) Crusader castle torn apart by earthquake at dawn, 20 May 1202. Geology 26:303–306
Ellenblum R, Marco S, Kool R, Davidovitch U, Porat R, Agnon A (2015) Archaeological record of earthquake ruptures in Tell Ateret, the Dead Sea. Tectonics 34:2105–2117
Erdik M, Rashidov T, Safak E, Turdukulov A (2005) Assessment of seismic risk in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 25:473–486
Evison FF, Rhoades DA (1993) The precursory earthquake swarm in New Zealand: hypothesis tests. NZ J Geol Geophys 36(1):51–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288306.1993.9514553
Farahani S, Behnam B, Tahershamsi A (2020) Macrozonation of seismic transient and permanent ground deformation of Iran. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 20:2889–2903
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (2020) Hazus Earthquake Model Technical Manual (Hazus 4.2 SP3), Washington DC, United States, pp 436
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (1997) NEHRP recommended provisions for seismic regulations for new buildings. Developed by the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Washington, DC pp XX
Felsenstein D, Elbaum E, levi T, Calvo R (2021) Post–processing Hazus earthquake damage and loss assessments for individual buildings. Nat Hazards 105:21–45
Fischer T, Hainzl S (2021) The growth of earthquake clusters. Front Earth Sci 9:638336. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.638336
Freund R, Zak I, Garfunkel Z (1968) Age and rate of sinistral movement along the Dead Sea rift. Nature 220:253–255
Frucht E, Salamon A, Rozelle J, Levi T, Calvo R, Avirav V, Burns JN, Zuzak C, Gal E, Trapper P, Galanti B, Bausch D (2021) Tsunami loss assessment based on Hazus approach – the Bat Galim, Israel, case study. Eng Geol 289(106175):1–10
Garfunkel Z (1981) Internal structure of the Dead Sea leaky transform (rift) in relation to plate kinematics. Tectonophysics 80:81–108
Garfunkel Z (2014) Lateral Motion and Deformation Along the Dead Sea Transform. In: Z. Garfunkel (eds.), Dead Sea Transform Fault System: Reviews, Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences 6, Springer Science + Business Media Dordrecht. Chapter 5 109–150
Gasperini L, Lazar M, Mazzini A, Lupi M, Haddad A, Hensen C, Schmidt M, Caracausi A, Ligi M, Polonia A (2020) Neotectonics of the sea of Galilee (northeast Israel): implication for geodynamics and seismicity along the Dead Sea Fault system. Sci Rep 10:11932. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67930-6
GII (Geophysical Institute of Israel) 2017 Seismological Bulletin earthquakes in and around Israel in 2013. Geophysical Institute of Israel, Report No. 030/880/17
Gorstein M, Wetzler N, Kurzon I (2020) Seismological Bulletin earthquakes in the vicinity of Israel during 2018. Geological Survey of Israel, Report No. TR-GSI/06/2020
Guidoboni E, Comastri A (2005) Catalogue of earthquakes and tsunamis in the Mediterranean area from the 11th to the 15th century. INGV-SGA? Bologna, Italy
Guidoboni E, Comastri A, Traina G (1994) Catalogue of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century. ING-SGA, Bologna
Gulati B (2006) Earthquake risk assessment of buildings: applicability of Hazus in Dehradun, India. Published Master Degree in International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation ENSCHEDE, The Netherlands, p 112
Haddad A, Alcanie M, Zahradník J, Lazar M, Antunes V, Gasperini L et al (2020) Tectonics of the Dead Sea fault driving the July 2018 seismic swarm in the sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), Israel. J Geophys Research: Solid Earth 125:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB018963. e2019JB018963
Hall JK, Calvo R (2005) Landforms of Israel: digital shaded relief maps of Israel, 1:500,000 scale. Grayscale and color. In: Hall JK, Krasheninnikov VA, Hirsch F, Benjamini C (eds) Geological Framework of the Levant. and A. Flexer), Plate XI, In
Hamiel Y, Piatibratova O (2023) Transient behavior and interplay between seismic and aseismic deformation near the tip of a creeping segment: insights from the northern Jordan Valley segment of the Dead Sea Fault. Geophys Res Lett 50:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100584
Hamiel Y, Amit R, Begin ZB, Marco S, Katz O, Salamon A, Zilberman E, Porat N (2009) The seismicity along the Dead Sea fault during the last 60,000 years. Bull Seismol Soc Am 99:2020–2026
Hamiel Y, Piatibratova O, Mizrahi Y (2016) Creep along the northern Jordan Valley section of the Dead Sea Fault. Geophys Res Lett 43:2494–2501. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067913
Hoyos MC, Silva V (2022) Exploring benefit cost analysis to support earthquake risk mitigation in Central America. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 80:1–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103162
Hurwitz S, Garfunkel Z, Ben-Gai Y, Reznikov M, Rotstein Y, Gvirtzman H (2002) The tectonic framework of a complex pull-apart basin: seismic reflection observations in the sea of Galilee, Dead Sea transform. Tectonophysics 359(3–4):289–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(02)00516-4
Israel Standard SI (413) 2013 Design provisions for earthquake resistance of structures, Amendment No. 5. The Standards Institution of Israel
Jayanta G, Saxena V (2002) Extreme losses from natural disasters—earthquakes, tropical cyclones and extratropical cyclones. Applied Insurance Research Inc. 101 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02199, pp 1–14
Katz O, Almog A (2006) Map of countrywide danger of slope slides in Israel, northern sheet, scale: 1:200,000. Final Report, Isr. Geol. Surv. Report #GSI/38/2006 (in Hebrew)
Katz O, Hecht H, Almog E (2008) Geological database for Hazus: geotechnical and landslides susceptibility maps. Geological Survey of Israel. Report GSI/08/08 (in Hebrew)
Klar A, Meirova T, Zaslavsky Y, Shapira A (2011) Spectral acceleration maps for use in SI 413 amendment No. 5. Geophysical Institute of Israel, Report No. 522/599/11. The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, The National Building Research Institute Report No, pp 2012938–2012931
Korkmaz KA (2009) Earthquake disaster risk assessment and evaluation for Turkey. Environ Geol 57:307–320
Levi T, Bausch D, Katz O, Rozelle J, Salamon A (2015) Insights from Hazus loss estimations in Israel for Dead Sea transform. Earthquakes Nat Hazards 75:365–388
Levi T, Salamon A, Bausch D, Rozelle J, Cutrell A, Hoyland S, Hamiel Y, Katz O, Calvo R, Gvirtzman Z, Ackerman B, Gavrieli I (2018) Earthquake scenario in a national drill, the case of ‘‘Turning Point 6’’, 2012, Israel. Natural Hazards, 92: 113–132
Levi T, Calvo R, Avirav V, Hamiel Y (2019) Economic loss scenarios (buildings) for Financial Management of Earthquake Risk in Israel (in Hebrew). Geological Survey of Israel, Report No. GSI/07/2019, 31 p
Lohman RB, McGuire JJ 2007 earthquake swarms driven by aseismic creep in the Salton Trough. Calif J Geophys Res 112, B04405: 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JB004596
Marco S, Rockwell TK, Heimann A, Frieslander U, Agnon A (2005) Late holocene slip of the Dead Sea transform revealed in 3D palaeoseismic trenches on the Jordan Gorge segment. Earth Planet Sci Lett 234:189–205
Nastev M (2014) Adapting Hazus for seismic risk assessment in Canada. Can Geotech J 51:217–222
Nemer T, Meghraoui M (2006) Evidence of coseismic ruptures along the Roum fault (Lebanon): a possible source for the AD 1837 earthquake. J Struct Geol 28:1483–1495
Pinter N, Ishiwateri M, Nonoguchi A, Tanaka Y, Casagrande D, Durden S, Rees J (2019) Large–scale managed retreat and structural protection following the 2011 Japan tsunami. Nat Hazards 96:1429–1436
Ploeger SK, Atkinson GM, Samson C (2010) A 695 pplying the HAZUS-MH software tool to assess seismic risk in downtown Ottawa, Canada. Nat Hazards 53:1–20
Ploeger SK, Elsabbagh A, Saatcioglu M (2016) Development of the CanRisk earthquake injury model. Nat Hazards 80:1171–1194
Quennell AM (1959) Tectonics of the dead sea rift, in Proceedings of the 20th International Geological Congress, Mexico, pp. 386–405, Mexico City
Rein A, Corotis RB (2013) An overview approach to seismic awareness for a ‘‘quiescent’’ region. Nat Hazards 67:335–363
Remo JWF, Pinter N (2012) Hazus-MH earthquake modeling in the central USA. Nat Hazards 63:1055–1081
Reznikov M, Ben-Avraham Z, Garfunkel Z, Gvirtzman H, Rotstein Y (2004) Structural and stratigraphic framework of Lake Kinneret. Israel J Earth Sci 53(3–4):131–149. https://doi.org/10.1560/QY1W-VVRM-FLNK-C9M9
Rhoades DA, Rastin SJ, Christophersen AA (2022) 20-Year journey of forecasting with the Every Earthquake a Precursor according to Scale. Model Geosci 12:349: 1–26. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12090349
Roland E, McGuire JJ (2009) Earthquake swarms on transform faults. Geophys J Int 178(3):1677–1690. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04214.x
Rozelle J (2018) International adaptation of the Hazus earthquake model using global exposure datasets. M.A. thesis, University of Colorado in Denver, 80 p
Sagy A, Rosensaft M (2019) Updates Map of ‘Active’ and ‘Potentially Active’ Faults that Rupture the Surface in Israel. For Israel Standard 413. Final Report, Isr. Geol. Surv. Report TR-GSI/04/2019 (in Hebrew)
Salamon A, Hofstetter A, Garfunkel Z, Ron H (2003) Seismotectonics of the Sinai subplate –the eastern Mediterranean region. Geophys J Int 155:149–173
Salamon A, Katz O, Crouvi O (2010) Zones of required investigation for earthquake-related hazards in Jerusalem. Nat Hazards 53:375–406
Sbeinati MR, Darawcheh R, Mouty M (2005) The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D. Ann Geophys 48:347–435
Schattner U, Segev A, Mikhailov V, Rybakov M, Lyakhovsky V (2019) Magnetic signature of the kinneret–kinarot tectonic basin along the Dead Sea transform, northern Israel. Pure Appl Geophys 176:4383–4399. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02211-6
Seligson HA, Shoaf KI (2003) Human impacts of earthquakes, chap. 28. In: Chen W-F, Scawthorn CR (eds) Earthquake engineering handbook. CRC, Boca Raton
Shamir G, Bartov Y, Sneh A, Fleisher L, Arad V, Rosensaft M 2001 preliminary seismic zonation in Israel. Geological survey of Israel, Report GSI/12/2001 and Geophysical Institute of Israel, Report GII/550/95/01(1)
Shanker D, Singh HN, Paudyal H, Kumar A, Panthi A, Singh VP (2010) Searching for an earthquake Precursor—A Case Study of Precursory Swarm as a real seismic pattern before major shocks. Pure Appl Geophys 167:655–666
Shapira A, Hofstetter R, Abdallah AQF, Dabbeek J, Hays W (2007) Earthquake hazard assessments for building codes, final report. Submitted to the U.S Agency for international development bureau for economic growth agriculture and trade, pp. 88
Shapira A, Avni R, Nur A (1993) New estimate of the Jericho earthquake epicenter of July 11, 1927. Israel J Earth Sci 42:93–96
Shapira S, Levi T, Bar-Dayan Y, Aharonson-Daniel L (2018) The impact of behavior on the risk of injury and death during an earthquake: a simulation-based study. Nat Hazards 91:1059–1074. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3167-5
Sharon M, Sagy A, Kurzon I, Marco S, Rosensaft M (2020) Assessment of seismic sources and capable faults through hierarchic tectonic criteria: implications for seismic hazard in the Levant. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 20:125–148
Sneh A (2010) The geological map of Israel at 1:50,000 scale: Teverya sheet. The Geological Survey of Israel
Sneh A, Weinberger R (2014) Major Structures of Israel and Environs, scale 1:500,000. Geological Survey of Israel
USGS (2020) https://www.usgs.gov/news/earthquake-forecast-westmorland-swarm-beginning-sept-30-2020, web-site visited at January 26th, 2022
Wechsler N, Rockwell TK, Klinger Y, Štěpančíková P, Kanari M, Marco S, Agnon A (2014) A paleoseismic record of earthquakes for the Dead Sea transform Fault between the First and Seventh centuries C. E.: nonperiodic behavior of a plate Boundary Fault. Bull Seismol Soc Am 104(3):1329–1347
Wechsler N, Marco S, Hinzen KG, Hinojosa-Prieto H (2018) Historical earthquakes around the sea of Galilee. In: Eisenberg M (ed) Hippos - Sussita of the Decapolis: the First Twelve Seasons of excavations (2000–2011), volume II, vol 2. The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, pp 16–23
Wells DL, Coppersmith KJ (1994) New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area, and surface displacement. Bull Seismol Soc Am 84(4):974–1002
Wetzler N, Shalev E, Göbel T, Amelung F, Kurzon I, Lyakhovsky V, Brodsky EE (2019) Earthquake swarms triggered by groundwater extraction near the Dead Sea Fault. Geophys Res Lett 46:8056–8063. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083491
Yagoda-Biran G, Hatzor YH, Amit R, Katz O (2010) Constraining regional paleo peak ground acceleration from back analysis of prehistoric landslides: Example from Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea transform. Tectonophysics 490(1–2):81–92
Zion C, Katz O, Ben-Avraham Z (2004) Evaluation of earthquake induced landslide hazard in Arbel and Tiberias quadrangles of the topographic map (in Hebrew). Geological Survey of Israel, Report. GSI/26/04
Zohar M, Salamon A, Rubin R (2016) Reappraised list of historical earthquakes in Israel and its close surroundings. J Seismol 20:971–985
Zohar M, Salamon A, Rubin R (2017) Earthquake damage history in Israel and its close surrounding – evaluation of spatial and temporal patterns. Tectonophysics 696–697:1–13
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Yariv Hamiel, Nadav Wetzler and Ram Weinberger for their helpful discussions regarding the July 2018 swarm event. The thorough and helpful reviews of two anonymous reviewers and Editor Francesco Comiti are highly appreciated.
Funding
Open access funding provided by Geological Survey of Israel. The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support was received for the preparation of this manuscript.
Open access funding provided by Geological Survey of Israel.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception, design and methodology. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Tsafrir Levi and Ran Calvo, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Levi, T., Calvo, R., Frucht, E. et al. Developing significant earthquake damage scenarios following the July 2018 earthquake swarm in the Sea of Galilee area near the Dead Sea Fault. Nat Hazards (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-024-06539-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-024-06539-8