Seismic Retrofitting: A preparatory approach against the forecasted quakes in the South-Western Part of Nigeria

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series 2019-12, Vol.1378 (4), p.42004
• Main Authors: Oluwafemi, John, Ede, Anthony, Ofuyatan, Olatokunbo, Bankole, Deborah, Oyebisi, Solomon, Atoyebi, Olumoyewa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earthquake; Earthquake Forecast; Earthquakes; Physics; Retrofitting; Seismic engineering; Seismic response; Seismic Retrofitting; Seismicity; Tremors
• ISSN: 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1378/4/042004

The seismic record of Nigeria shows the occurrences of quakes that range from small to medium magnitude as against the belief of some people that Nigeria is aseismic. Researchers in Nigeria have also recently raised alarm that devastating earthquake is likely to be experienced in the nearest future with attention drawn to the south west in Nigeria. The historical seismic data as published in this work had the sizes of quakes presented using the intensity scale. To further give us clarity into the actual sizes of the documented quakes, the intensities were converted to local magnitudes, hence the minimum and maximum quakes ever witnessed in Nigeria were ascertained to be 3.3Ml and 6.5Ml. In response to the seismic alerts and forecast results targeted at the south-west region of Nigeria, seismic retrofitting is recommended for the existing structures along the seismic fault in the south west while the response results published in the works of [1] is recommended as guides to the designs of subsequent structures along the fault in the south west so as to establish safety just if the forecasted quake is experienced.