A worldwide and unified database of surface ruptures (SURE) for fault displacement hazard analyses

Fault displacement hazard assessment is based on empirical relationships that are established using historic earthquake fault ruptures. These relationships evaluate the likelihood of coseismic surface slip considering on-fault and off-fault ruptures, for given earthquake magnitude and distance to fault. Moreover, they allow predicting the amount of fault slip at and close to the active fault of concern. Applications of this approach include land use planning, structural design of infrastructure, and critical facilities located on or close to an active fault. To date, the current equations are based on sparsely populated datasets, including a limited number of pre-2000 events. In 2015, an international effort started to constitute a worldwide and unified fault displacement database (SUrface Ruptures due to Earthquakes [SURE]) to improve further hazard estimations. After two workshops, it was decided to unify the existing datasets (field-based slip measurements) to incorporate recent and future cases, and to include new parameters relevant to properly describe the rupture. This contribution presents the status of the SURE database and delineates some perspectives to improve the surface-faulting assessment. Original data have been compiled and adapted to the structure. The database encompasses 45 earthquakes from magnitude 5–7.9, with more than 15,000 coseismic surface deformation observations (including slip measurements) and 56,000 of rupture segments. Twenty earthquake cases are from Japan, 15 from United States, two from Mexico, Italy, and New Zealand, one from Kyrgystan, Ecuador, Turkey, and Argentina. Twenty-four earthquakes are strike-slip faulting events, 11 are normal or normal oblique, and 10 are reverse faulting. To pursue the momentum, the initial and common implementation effort needs to be continued and coordinated, and the maintenance and longevity of the database must be guaranteed. This effort must remain based on a large and open community of earthquake geologists to create a free and open access database.