Site-suitability analysis on seismic stations using Geographic Information Systems

Abstract

The Ranau Earthquake which took place on 5 June 2015 was captured as among the worst ever disasters in Malaysia, par with the tsunami tragedy in 2004. Apart from 18 casualties and physical damage to infrastructure, the earthquake also caused landslides, rockfalls and debris flow around Mount Kinabalu. It also caused liquefaction in the Poring Hot Spring area. Although Malaysia has seismic stations to assess local and international earthquakes, academic researchers still find the distribution of seismic stations as insufficiently dense to provide accurate information where blind spots still exist in many places, particularly in earthquake prone areas. A strategic suggestion to address these existing gaps is by installing more sensitive seismic stations in strategic areas to enhance the precision, timeliness and content of earthquake information. Therefore, this study is primarily aimed to identify the criteria used in a site-suitability analysis on seismic stations as well as to suggest strategic locations for subsequent seismic stations to be included in the local seismic monitoring network. This study employed a GIS-based MCDA tool to create a suitability map for the placement of seismic stations in one of Malaysia's earthquake-prone locations, specifically the district of Niah Suai in Sarawak. The study's findings demonstrate GIS' capacity to combine multiple data layers with varied criteria to generate an acceptable suitability map. The acquired results were thoroughly discussed using descriptive analysis in order to meet the study objectives. The findings of this study may be used to enhance the existing technique employed by MET Malaysia in identifying suitable sites for seismic station placement. An improved seismic station network would aid MET Malaysia in delivering effective and reliable information to the National Disaster Agency for mitigation and preparation against disasters.