Unified seismic hazard modelling throughout the Mediterranean region

The generation of a uniform seismic hazard modelling for the whole Mediterranean basin has been carried out under the coordination of activities of the IUGS-UNESCO IGCP-382 project "Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard Assessment of the Mediterranean Basin" (SESAME) and the European Seismological Commission Working Group on Seismic Hazard Assessment. While the final approach for the Mediterranean region in the global hazard map of the "Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program" was to assemble independent regional and national hazard maps, main efforts within recent SESAME activities have focused on the development of a unified seismic source model for the whole Mediterranean for homogeneous hazard computations. This unified source model is based on the compilation of existing data on seismogenic models for the region. The individual regional and national zonations have been joined, new seismic sources at border areas between different regions have been redesigned to avoid ambiguities coming from different approaches, and draft source zones have been established in areas where these were not yet availble. For the first time, a unified seismic source model for the whole of the Mediterranean region is presented and a suite of probabilistic hazard maps computed in a homogeneous fashion have been generated.