Geotechnical characteristics of the Zabeli location, Gjilan

Many earthquakes that happened in the past taught us lessons, which are very essential when it comes to planning urban development and essential infrastructure as well as mitigating the effects of such calamities in future. The hazards associated with earthquakes are referred to as seismic hazards. The general goal of earthquake engineering is identification and mitigation of seismic hazards. Microzonation has generally been recognized as the most effective tool in seismic hazard assessment and risk evaluation and it is defined as the zonation with respect to ground motion characteristics taking into account source and site conditions. This exercise is similar to the macro level hazard evaluation but requires more rigorous input about the site specific geological conditions, geotechnical characteristics of site, ground responses of soil column to earthquake motions and their effects, ground conditions which would enhance the earthquake effects like the liquefaction of soil, the ground water conditions and the static and dynamic characteristics of foundations or of the stability of slopes in the hilly terrain. For the estimation of site effects (local soil and topographical effects) and induced effects (land instability and liquefaction) the knowledge on the bed rock where ground motion is being applied is required.