A probabilistic seismic hazard model for North Africa

African seismicity is predominantly localized along the East African Rift System (EARS), which is the major active tectonic feature of Sub-Saharan Africa. Besides the EARS, however, significant seismicity also occurs along a wide belt bounding the Mediterranean coastline. This tectonically active region extends discontinuously from Morocco to Egypt and its activity is controlled by the complex interaction between the Nubian and Eurasian plates, varying from transpression in the Atlas orogen in the west to transtension in the east. A record of large earthquake events is documented for the whole region, some of them causing moderate to severe levels of damage, mostly because of the high vulnerability of local buildings and structures, a condition which is still largely persistent in many areas. Currently, a number of seismic hazard models exist at local and national scales for North Africa, developed within independent projects and created using inhomogeneous data sources and different p...