Development of the Caltrans deterministic fault and earthquake hazard map of California

Caltrans has developed a deterministic fault and earthquake hazard map for California for use in engineering. The deterministic method avoids the problem of long recurrence in the probabilistic approach. Relating earthquake recurrence or probability to the design/economic/useful lifetime of a structure is not always a sound approach for safety considerations because earthquake cycles are largely unknown and lifetimes are conceptual and not fixed. Experience in California shows that the recurrence and temporal sequence of earthquakes are not related. The deterministic approach avoids these problems.