ESTIMATION OF STRONG GROUND MOTION PARAMETERS OF INITIAL PART OF P-WAVE FOR EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS IN THE AZARBAYJAN REGION

Two recent earthquakes that struck the Azarbayjan region, NW-Iran, on 10 August 2012 (Mw=6.2 and 6.1) caused major concern about future earthquake occurrences in Azarbayjan Region. In order to improve the capability of NW-Iran earthquake early warning system for giving early warning of a damaging earthquake in the Azarbayjan Region, we explored an alternative approach with the use of a period parameter (tc) and a high-pass filtered displacement amplitude parameter (Pd) from the initial 3 s of the P wave forms. The empirical relationships both between τc and moment magnitude (Mw), and between Pd and peak ground parameters (PGA, PGV and PGD) for the this region are presented. These relationships can be used to detect a damaging earthquake within seconds after the arrival of P waves, and can provide on-site warning in the Azarbayjan Region.