Seismological Aspects and Seismic Behavior of Buildings During the M 7.3 Western Iran Earthquake in Sarpol-e-zahab Region

This paper investigates the earthquake in Sarpol-e-zahab County, Kermanshah Province, Iran on November 12, 2017. For this purpose, the seismological aspects and the earthquake source are investigated. The ground motion is studied and its response spectra are compared with the Tabas earthquake response spectra and also the design spectra of the Iranian seismic design code (Standard No. 2800). The maximum pseudo-acceleration responses of the longitudinal and transverse components of Sarpol-e-zahab fall between 0.3 and 0.6 s. The structures' period in most of the buildings in this region has the same value. This resulted in severe damage to most of the buildings in the region due to the resonance effect. Finally, the seismic behavior of different structural buildings in this region is studied, and the buildings' damages are outlined. The study presents field observations of damage to the buildings since the damage appearing in the buildings may be the result of such elements as site effect, poor construction quality, poor material, poor detailing, soft stories, weak stories, and inadequate reinforcement.