1st Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 1CroCEE 2021

Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the center of the Western Balkans, occupying an area of 51,197 km². This area represents one of the active seismic zones in this region which is a part of the Trans-Mediterranean-Asian Seismic belt. Looking at the Euro Mediterranean Seismic Hazard Map, Bosnia and Herzegovina falls in the Moderate Seismic Hazard having the PGA in the range of 0.08 to 0.24g, while a south-west part of the country experiences a High Hazard (PGA>0.24g). Data about the seismicity of this region go back for even 2000 years. Bosnia and Herzegovina to the present day has not been hit by a large-scale earthquake, the earthquake which had the largest impact and caused numerous casualties was the 1969 Banja Luka earthquake of a magnitude 6.6 on the Richter scale, while levels of VII to IX were identified concerning its intensity. Due to a large number of existing masonry structures, the effect of a larger earthquake would most probably result in many casualties and a high level of damage.
Until 2018 the seismic map that was used in the building codes corresponded to the MCS Intensity Scale and the return period of 500 years. To be able to utilize Eurocode 8 it was necessary to produce the national annex to Eurocode 8 and in that respect, it was required to analyze the seismic data which refers to different parameters that have to be determined. Several elements had to be defined from soil type characteristics, horizontal elastic response spectra, the peak ground acceleration, and the seismic hazard map. The paper will briefly discuss the different parameters as well as the production of the first seismic hazard map which became a part of the national annex to Eurocode 8 and was published in 2018.