Tremors and built environment of Hyderabad, Telangana, India: safety of buildings using recorded ground motions

Although the city of Hyderabad in Telangana, India lies in seismic zone II, low to medium intensity tremors that pose a serious concern towards safety of the built environment are not uncommon. One such series of tremors occurred during 13–20 October 2020, in the financial district of Hyderabad and created a panic situation due to perceivable shaking and jolts with loud sounds associ­ated with hydro-seismicity. To understand the safety of the city’s built environment, a study was conducted on low, medium and tall buildings using ground motions recorded at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, which is 2.3 km from the epicentre. The amplification of ground motion on the second floor of the Nilgiri Building in IIIT, Hyderabad was 1.2–2.3. The vibrations recorded on the ground floor of the Nilgiri Building were used to develop a site-specific response spectrum. This was further used to obtain the peak responses of the considered buildings through response spectrum analysis. The present study suggests that the low-rise buildings, mid-rise buildings and non-structural elements in high-rise buildings are under threat in the case of high-intensity earthquakes