{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T20:57:14Z","timestamp":1777669034343,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,26]],"date-time":"2020-01-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1579996800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>It remains elusive why there was only weak and limited ground shaking in Kathmandu valley during the 25 April 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake. Our spectral element numerical simulations show that, during this earthquake, surface topography restricted the propagation of seismic energy into the valley. The mountains diverted the incoming seismic wave mostly to the eastern and western margins of the valley. As a result, we find de-amplification of peak ground displacement in most of the valley interior. Modeling of alternative earthquake scenarios of the same magnitude occurring at different locations shows that these will affect the Kathmandu valley much more strongly, up to 2\u20133 times more, than the 2015 Gorkha earthquake did. This indicates that surface topography contributed to the reduced seismic shaking for this specific earthquake and lessened the earthquake impact within the valley.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s20030678","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,27]],"date-time":"2020-01-27T07:41:11Z","timestamp":1580110871000},"page":"678","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The Influence of Surface Topography on the Weak Ground Shaking in Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8762-585X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mark","family":"van der Meijde","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Systems Analysis, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9813-731X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Md","family":"Ashrafuzzaman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Systems Analysis, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Roads and Highways Department, Government of the People\u2019s Republic of Bangladesh, Sarak Bhaban, Tejgaon, Dhaka 1208, Bangladesh"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4513-4681","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Norman","family":"Kerle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Systems Analysis, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1580-9502","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Saad","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Systems Analysis, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Geology, Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Charsadda 24420, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2871-3913","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Harald","family":"van der Werff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Systems Analysis, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Showstack, R. (2015). Weak shaking lessened Nepal earthquake impact. Eos, 96.","DOI":"10.1029\/2015EO032443"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1524","DOI":"10.1785\/0220150138","article-title":"Ground motions from the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake constrained by a detailed assessment of macroseismic data","volume":"86","author":"Martin","year":"2015","journal-title":"Seismol. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"291","article-title":"The 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake: Possible implications for Northeastern India","volume":"20","author":"Detweiler","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Ind. Geophys. Union"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1514","DOI":"10.1785\/0220150158","article-title":"Geotechnical effects of the 2015 magnitude 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake and aftershocks","volume":"86","author":"Moss","year":"2015","journal-title":"Seismol. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Grunthal, G. (1998). The European Macroseismic Scale EMS-98. Cahiers du Centre Europeen de Geodynamique et de Seismologie 15, Centre Europeen de Geodynamique et de Seismologie."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"USGS (2019, October 18). One Year after the M7.8 Nepal Earthquake, Available online: https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/news\/one-year-after-m78-nepal-earthquake."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"The Government of Nepal and Disaster Preparedness Network-Nepal (2019, October 18). Nepal disaster report 2015, Available online: http:\/\/www.drrportal.gov.np\/uploads\/document\/329.pdf."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1080\/19475705.2013.806363","article-title":"Public School Earthquake Safety Program in Nepal","volume":"5","author":"Dixit","year":"2014","journal-title":"Geomatics Nat. Hazards Risks"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wei, S., Chen, M., Wang, X., Graves, R., Lindsey, E., Wang, T., Karaka\u015f, \u00c7., and Helmberger, D. (2018). The 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake sequence: I. Source modeling and deterministic 3D ground shaking. Tectonophysics.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tecto.2017.11.024"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1502","DOI":"10.1785\/0220150212","article-title":"Introduction to the focus section on the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake","volume":"86","author":"Hough","year":"2015","journal-title":"Seismol. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Hashash, Y.M.A., Tiwari, B., Moss, R.E.S., Asimaki, D., Clahan, K.B., Kieffer, D.S., Dreger, D.S., Macdonald, A., Madugo, C.M., and Mason, H.B. (2020, January 21). Geotechnical Field Reconnaissance: Gorkha (Nepal) Earthquake of April 25 and Related Shaking Sequence. Available online: https:\/\/digitalcommons.calpoly.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=cenv_fac."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1091","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aac6383","article-title":"Slip pulse and resonance of the Kathmandu basin during the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal","volume":"349","author":"Galetzka","year":"2015","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6655","DOI":"10.1002\/2015GL065385","article-title":"Line-of-sight displacement from ALOS-2 interferometry: Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake and Mw 7.3 aftershock","volume":"42","author":"Lindsey","year":"2015","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"708","DOI":"10.1038\/ngeo2518","article-title":"Lower edge of locked Main Himalayan Thrust unzipped by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake","volume":"8","author":"Avouac","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nat. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8373","DOI":"10.1002\/2015GL066044","article-title":"Rupture process of the Mw = 7.9 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Nepal): Insights into Himalayan megathrust segmentation","volume":"42","author":"Grandin","year":"2015","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"672","DOI":"10.1785\/0120180174","article-title":"The 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence: II. broadband simulation of ground motion in Kathmandu","volume":"109","author":"Chen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1007\/s00190-018-1164-9","article-title":"Source model and Coulomb stress change of the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake determined from improved inversion of geodetic surface deformation observations","volume":"93","author":"Yang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Geod."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"268","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jseaes.2016.12.004","article-title":"Hybrid stochastic ground motion modeling of the Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake of 2015 based on InSAR inversion","volume":"141","author":"Shen","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Asian Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rajaure, S., Asimaki, D., Thompson, E.M., Hough, S., Martin, S., Ampuero, J.P., Dhital, M.R., Inbal, A., Takai, N., and Shigefuji, M. (2017). Characterizing the Kathmandu Valley sediment response through strong motion recordings of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake sequence. Tectonophysics.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tecto.2016.09.030"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1185","DOI":"10.1007\/s10518-016-9999-z","article-title":"Seismic performance of the infill masonry walls and ambient vibration tests after the Ghorka 2015, Nepal earthquake","volume":"15","author":"Varum","year":"2017","journal-title":"Bull. Earthq. Eng."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dhakal, Y.P., Kubo, H., Suzuki, W., Kunugi, T., Aoi, S., and Fujiwara, H. (2016). Analysis of strong ground motions and site effects at Kantipath, Kathmandu, from 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake and its aftershocks. Earth Planets Space, 68.","DOI":"10.1186\/s40623-016-0432-2"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1540","DOI":"10.1785\/0220150140","article-title":"Overview of the large 25 April 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, Earthquake from accelerometric perspectives","volume":"86","author":"Bhattarai","year":"2015","journal-title":"Seismol. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Takai, N., Shigefuji, M., Rajaure, S., Bijukchhen, S., Ichiyanagi, M., Dhital, M.R., and Sasatani, T. (2016). Strong ground motion in the Kathmandu Valley during the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake. Earth Planets Space, 68.","DOI":"10.1186\/s40623-016-0383-7"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3206","DOI":"10.1029\/2018GL081197","article-title":"The 2015 Gorkha earthquake: Earthquake reflection imaging of the source fault and connecting seismic structure with fault slip behavior","volume":"46","author":"Kurashimo","year":"2019","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"USGS (2019, October 18). M 7.8\u201436km E of Khudi, Nepal, Available online: https:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/us20002926#finite-fault."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2151","DOI":"10.1785\/0120160213","article-title":"The impact of mesh and DEM resolution in SEM simulation of 3D seismic response","volume":"107","author":"Khan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jseaes.2016.11.012","article-title":"Characteristics of subevents and three-stage rupture processes of the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Nepal earthquake from multiple-array back projection","volume":"133","author":"Qin","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Asian Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Levander, A., and Nolet, G. (2005). The spectral-element method in seismology. Seismic Earth: Array Analysis of Broadband Seismograms, American Geophysical Union.","DOI":"10.1029\/GM157"},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"1","article-title":"Spectral-element and adjoint methods in seismology","volume":"3","author":"Tromp","year":"2008","journal-title":"Commun. Comput. Phys."},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"420","article-title":"Impact of DEM source and resolution on topographic seismic amplification","volume":"13","author":"Shafique","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Sandia National Laboratories (2019, October 18). The CUBIT Geometry and Mesh Generation Toolkit, Available online: https:\/\/cubit.sandia.gov\/."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Casarotti, E., Stupazzini, M., Lee, S.J., Komatitsch, D., Piersanti, A., and Tromp, J. (2007, January 14\u201317). CUBIT and seismic wave propagation based upon the spectral-element method: An advanced unstructured mesher for complex 3D geological media. Proceedings of the 16th International Meshing Roundtable, Seattle, WA, USA."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1203","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-246X.2011.05311.x","article-title":"RegSEM: A versatile code based on the spectral element method to compute seismic wave propagation at the regional scale","volume":"188","author":"Cupillard","year":"2012","journal-title":"Geophys. J. Int."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (2019, October 18). Specfem3d Cartesian. Available online: https:\/\/geodynamics.org\/cig\/software\/specfem3d\/."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ichiyanagi, M., Takai, N., Shigefuji, M., Bijukchhen, S., Sasatani, T., Rajaure, S., Dhital, M.R., and Takahashi, H. (2016). Aftershock activity of the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake determined using the Kathmandu strong motion seismographic array. Earth Planets Space, 68.","DOI":"10.1186\/s40623-016-0402-8"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Monsalve, G., Sheehan, A., Schulte-Pelkum, V., Rajaure, S., Pandey, M.R., and Wu, F. (2006). Seismicity and one-dimensional velocity structure of the Himalayan collision zone: Earthquakes in the crust and upper mantle. J. Geophys. Res., 111.","DOI":"10.1029\/2005JB004062"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1785\/0120110328","article-title":"One- dimensional reference velocity model and precise location of earthquake hypocenter in the Kumaon-Garhawal Himalaya","volume":"103","author":"Mahesh","year":"2013","journal-title":"Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pepi.2012.04.002","article-title":"The global CMT project 2004-2010: Centroid-moment tensors for 13,017 earthquakes","volume":"200\u2013201","author":"Ekstrom","year":"2012","journal-title":"Phys. Earth Planet. Inter."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Kramer, S.L. (1996). Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Prentice-Hall."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1007\/s40328-016-0170-8","article-title":"Ground motion estimation during 25th April 2015 Nepal earthquake","volume":"52","author":"Dhanya","year":"2015","journal-title":"Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253","DOI":"10.1785\/0120070033","article-title":"Three-Dimensional simulations of seismic wave propagation in the Taipei Basin with realistic topography based upon the spectral-element method","volume":"98","author":"Lee","year":"2008","journal-title":"Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5744","DOI":"10.1002\/2015GL064587","article-title":"Detailed rupture imaging of the 25 April 2015 Nepal earthquake using teleseismic P waves","volume":"42","author":"Fan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/3\/678\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T13:44:41Z","timestamp":1760363081000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/3\/678"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,26]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,2]]}},"alternative-id":["s20030678"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s20030678","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,26]]}}}