# Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment for United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain
## 2 Review of Previous Assessments and Building Regulations
From the previously-mentioned seismic hazard assessments, applying different source models and attenuation relationships for each individual study, and by using different software codes (see Table 1), different results have been obtained and presented in different forms and formats (e.g., hazard curves, UHS, PGA, and SA values for some spectral periods, with return periods ranging from 100 up to 10000 years). Great differences in the obtained results from subsequent studies, for the same studied sites, have been observed (e.g., see PGA values for Dubai and Abu Dhabi in Table 2). These differences can be attributed to the following main reasons: (a) the considered earthquake catalog and its completeness, which affects significantly the obtained hazard values especially in regions with moderate seismicity, (b) the seismic source model in relation to the prevailing seismotectonic context of the studied region, and (c) the selection of the most appropriate representative ground-motion attenuation model(s) representing the attenuation characteristics in the region under study. Additionally, there is not a unified and specific seismic design code/regulation applicable for buildings all over the three studied countries. However, hazard assessments could be incorporated into the well-known internationally applied seismic design codes, e.g., [48; 49; 50]. The UBC [48] classifies the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the cities of Doha and Manama to be located within Zone 0, which means that they do not need any seismic regulation because there is no \"significant\" seismic hazard (according to this code). The only exception is that for those tall buildings with more than five stories in the Dubai municipality. They were considered within Zone 2A (PGA value equals to 0.15 g) \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Study** & **Abu Dhabi** & **Dubai** \\ \hline [PERSON] and [PERSON] [12] & 0.12 & 0.15 \\ \hline [PERSON] and [PERSON] [13] & — & 0.16 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [14] & 0.04 & 0.06 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [15] & — & 0.05 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [16] & 0.10 & 0.16 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [17] & 0.04 & 0.05 \\ \hline [PERSON] [18] & — & 0.17 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [19] & 0.04 & 0.06 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [20] & 0.035 & 0.047 \\ \hline [PERSON] et al. [21] & 0.033 & 0.047 \\ \hline Current Study & 0.05 & 0.09 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Previously estimated PGA (g) values, for rock-site conditions and a return period of 475 years, for the quoted seismic hazard assessments, which arranged chronologically, for the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in comparison with the obtained values in the current study. defined by the UBC [48]. In contrast to the UBC [48] format, that uses the PGA values as a direct input for the seismic design criteria, the Abu Dhabi municipality has recently adapted the IBC [50] and enforced the ADIBC [7] which depends mainly on the SA values at 0.2 and 1.0 s. This enforced code was based mainly on the IBC [50] regulations published by the International Code Council, considering the regional subdivision of the UAE by [PERSON] et al. [20]. These authors classified the UAE into four main zones, based on a seismic hazard assessment for B soil conditions (NEHRP classification) for the whole country, and for a return period of 2475 (check whole paper) years. The corresponding SA (0.2 s) and SA (1.0 s) pair values (2475 years return period) for the defined zones all over the UAE are equal to 0.21 and 0.07 g, 0.28 and 0.11 g, 0.42 and 0.17 g, and 0.70 and 0.22 g, for zones 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. In addition, the Qatar National Construction Standards [9] and earlier editions did not enforce any seismic design requirements for the construction and design of buildings in the country. However, the specifications of the QGOSM [8] suggested that some seismic acceleration values should be adopted for the design of new buildings and structures in the country. The most acceptable design spectra for Qatar are those developed by [PERSON] et al.