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The stability of buildings in seismic prone areas depends upon the structural behavior of buildings subjected to ground motion. Buildings of plan and vertical irregularities with respect to either geometry or stiffness have exhibited poor performance during past earthquakes . Identification of seismic building vulnerability is required for metropolitan cities which have moderate to high level of seismic proneness and have a high building density. Inspection of a large number of buildings individually requires enormous time and manpower. Using aerial photograph approach in GIS platform is an ideal choice to overcome these constraints. Chennai city is the thirty-fourth largest city in the world and prone to moderate earthquake hazards. This paper presents a methodology to analyze and predict the seismic vulnerability of buildings with five storeys and above in Chennai. Aerial photographic data of all buildings, land features and roads, within the city and its direct surroundings, were digitized and incorporated on a GIS platform, resulting in a digital vector map. A number of structural parameters determined on the basis of engineering knowledge and observations through rapid visual screening (RVS) have been used to identify the plan and vertical irregularities of the buildings. A new vulnerability scoring system to identify the level of damageability has been introduced based on RVS technique and compared with traditional grading system. Subsequent to RVS, a database of buildings having different range of vulnerability scores has been prepared. The percentage of desirable and undesirable features of buildings with respect to their contribution to damage was assessed based on past experiences and vulnerability scores of buildings. The survey shows that 30 % of the buildings are in the A category of being vulnerable to collapse. There are no buildings that can be classified as defect-free. It is also to note that 55-70 % of buildings lie in the category of D (low damage vulnerability). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased availability of post-tsunami damage data over the past decade has led to a growing inventory of empirical vulnerability functions that model the damage response of buildings to tsunamis. At present, these functions are highly varied with respect to the building typologies and damage states that they represent, making it difficult to apply them effectively in tsunami vulnerability and loss assessments. This paper provides a detailed review of the methods that have been used to develop empirical vulnerability functions and identifies the key factors that are contributing to the variation seen in existing functions. Categorisation and direct comparison of existing functions show that the variation in previous work is due to significant differences in the accuracy of the hazard assessment techniques that are used, inconsistent and poorly defined damage state and building typology classification systems, the use of error-prone and incorrectly applied statistical methods and the use of post-event data that is not representative of the building damage occurring in study areas. As a result of these findings, recommendations for future work include: (1) using more accurate hazard assessment methods; (2) applying more consistent damage state classification methodologies; (3) implementing more precise building typology classification systems; and (4) ensuring that the tsunami-impacted buildings used to generate vulnerability functions are representative of the full damage and hazard range occurring in impacted areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of ore and minerals by underground mining often causes ground subsidence phenomena and may result in severe damage to buildings. Risk analysis in subsidence regions requires the assessment of both the hazards to and vulnerability of nearby buildings. However, many uncertainties exist and this assessment and its representation as well are still a complex objective. For this purpose a damage simulation tool is developed to investigate hazard and vulnerability under several possible scenarios of mining subsidence in which a large number of buildings may be affected. Ground movements assessment is based on the influence function method, and building damage is estimated using vulnerability functions. A case study is presented to illustrate the different results given by the damage simulator. Uncertainties about the collapsed zone of the mine and influence angles lead to the definition of different possible scenarios. A relative occurrence probability is then defined to implement a probabilistic approach to the hazard and vulnerability assessments. Different results, more or less synthetics, can then be obtained to assess both hazard and vulnerability over the exposed city. These results are compared and the maximal horizontal ground strains and the mean damage appear to be the most effective and relevant way to address the question. A final ranking based on scoring is then provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study proposes to evaluate the vulnerability of the fire protection system of the buildings of the University of Quindío following the requirements established in 2010 seen in the titles J "fire protection requirements in buildings" and K "Additional requirements" of Colombia Earthquake Resistant Standards. According to the result of the evaluation, alternative solutions are defined to use. In addition, the evaluation procedures implemented to measure the status and capacity of action of an institution of higher education is presented according to the characteristics of its buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents structured and cost-effective methods for assessing the physical vulnerability of at-risk communities to the range of volcanic hazards, developed as part of the MIA-VITA project (2009–2012). An initial assessment of building and infrastructure vulnerability has been carried out for a set of broadly defined building types and infrastructure categories, with the likelihood of damage considered separately for projectile impact, ash fall loading, pyroclastic density current dynamic pressure and earthquake ground shaking intensities. In refining these estimates for two case study areas: Kanlaon volcano in the Philippines and Fogo volcano in Cape Verde, we have developed guidelines and methodologies for carrying out physical vulnerability assessments in the field. These include identifying primary building characteristics, such as construction material and method, as well as subsidiary characteristics, for example the size and prevalence of openings, that may be important in assessing eruption impacts. At-risk buildings around Kanlaon were found to be dominated by timber frame buildings that exhibit a high vulnerability to pyroclastic density currents, but a low vulnerability to failure from seismic shaking. Around Fogo, the predominance of unreinforced masonry buildings with reinforced concrete slab roofs suggests a high vulnerability to volcanic earthquake but a low vulnerability to ash fall loading. Given the importance of agriculture for local livelihoods around Kanlaon and Fogo, we discuss the potential impact of infrastructure vulnerability for local agricultural economies, with implications for volcanic areas worldwide. These methodologies and tools go some way towards offering a standardised approach to carrying out future vulnerability assessments for populated volcanic areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quantification of building vulnerability to earthquake and tsunami hazards is a key component for the implementation of structural mitigation strategies fostering the essential shift from post-disaster crisis reaction to preventive measures. Facing accelerating urban sprawl and rapid structural change in modern urban agglomerations in areas of high seismic and tsunami risk, the synergetic use of remote sensing and civil engineering methods offers a great potential to assess building structures up-to-date and area-wide. This paper provides a new methodology contextualizing key components in quantifying building vulnerability with regard to sequenced effects of seismic and tsunami impact. The study was carried out in Cilacap, a coastal City in Central Java, Indonesia. Central is the identification of significant correlations between building characteristics, easily detectable by remote sensing techniques, and detailed in situ measurements stating precise building vulnerability information. As a result, potential vertical evacuation shelters in the study area are detected and a realistic vulnerability assessment of the exposed building stock is given. These findings obtained allow for prioritization of intervention measures such as awareness and preparedness strategies and can be implemented in local disaster management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of subsidence phenomena in urban regions may induce small to severe damage to buildings. Many methods are provided in the literature to assess buildings damage. Most of these methods are empirical and use the horizontal ground strain as a subsidence intensity in the vicinity of a building. Application and comparison of these methods with a case study is the main objective of this paper. This comparison requires some harmonization of the existing methods and the development of a software, which combines the subsidence hazard prediction, the damage evaluation methods and a database of buildings with structural parameters as well as the geographical coordinates of the buildings An additional results is the development of a method for the prediction of the horizontal ground strain in the vicinity of each building. Results are given as a map of damaged buildings for the case study and the different existing methods with some statistical calculations such as the mean and the standard deviation of damage in the city. Comparison of these results allows identification of the 'safer' method that give the higher mean of damage. The comparison of the calculated results and observed damage in Lorrain region show that, the Dzegeniuk et al. methods is more realistic in comparison of the other empirical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Karmania Hazard Model (KHM) is a GIS-based application for earthquake scenario development and disaster management. The lack of integrated and automated tools for estimating resources needed in the aftermath of an earthquake during the disaster response phase motivated the design and implementation of a comprehensive, interactive, and user-friendly model. This model draws on datasets integrated and manipulated in a relational database management system to simulate an earthquake with specific characteristics such as magnitude, depth, distance, time and date. Earthquake risk, seismic microzonation and intensity maps, building and population vulnerability maps, reports on damages and estimation of required resources are produced by applying empirically validated equations and spatial data analysis. The model is validated with data collected after 2003 earthquake in Bam City. It enables disaster managers and decision makers to prepare for a probable earthquake. It gives urban planners an opportunity to design and revise their strategies for urban redevelopment and future urban extensions. Despite the uncertainties and complexities that are inherent to simulation modeling, KHM can serve as a practical tool to assist decision-makers in effective post-disaster management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper earthquake damage scenarios for residential buildings (about 4200 units) in Potenza (Southern Italy) have been estimated adopting a novel probabilistic approach that involves complex source models, site effects, building vulnerability assessment and damage estimation through Damage Probability Matrices. Several causative faults of single seismic events, with magnitude up to 7, are known to be close to the town. A seismic hazard approach based on finite faults ground motion simulation techniques has been used to identify the sources producing the maximum expected ground motion at Potenza and to generate a set of ground motion time histories to be adopted for building damage scenarios. Additionally, site effects, evaluated in a previous work through amplification factors of Housner intensity, have been combined with the bedrock values provided by hazard assessment. Furthermore, a new relationship between Housner and EMS-98 macroseismic intensity has been developed. This relationship has been used to convert the probability mass functions of Housner intensity obtained from synthetic seismograms amplified by the site effects coefficients into probability mass function of EMS-98 intensity. Finally, the Damage Probability Matrices have been applied to estimate the damage levels of the residential buildings located in the urban area of Potenza. The proposed methodology returns the full probabilistic distribution of expected damage, thus avoiding average damage index or uncertainties expressed in term of dispersion indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Seismic resiliency of new buildings has improved over the years due to enhancements in seismic codes and design practices. However, existing buildings designed and built under earlier codes are vulnerable and require a performance-based screening and retrofit prioritization. The performance modifiers considered are soft story, weak story, and the quality of construction, which are collated through a walk down survey. The building evaluation is performed through a pushover analysis, and performance objective are obtained through initial stiffness of the pushover curve. Using a design of experiments technique, a reliable system input–output relation has been identified and used to evaluate the performance criteria at untried design points (i.e., buildings with different modifier values). The proposed method of performance based evaluation is illustrated through consideration of the different structural deficiencies on a typical six-storey reinforced concrete building in Vancouver. Through the designed experiments, the main and interaction effects of the performance modifiers have also been studied. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents the vulnerability of public buildings in Sabah which are subjected to earthquakes from Sumatra and the Philippines. Tremors in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia due to Sumatra and Philippine earthquakes have been reported several times. Engineers are concerned of the seismic vulnerability of public buildings due to lack of earthquake consideration in Malaysia‟s building design procedure. 8 (eight) reinforced concrete buildings which are mostly categorized as moment resisting frames has been selected for vulnerability study. A case study has been conducted on low rise, medium rise, and high rise buildings. The buildings are analyzed using Finite Element Modeling (FEM) under different types of analyses including Time History Analysis (THA) considering low to medium earthquake intensities. Different intensities of earthquake load, 0.05g, 0.10g, 0.15g and 0.20g are applied to the structures to know the maximum allowable earthquake load intensities for the buildings. In the non-linear analysis of modal frames, it indicates that most of the buildings are categorised in the moderate damage level where there is no structural damage but some non-structural damage are expected. The performances of the structure are shown by the yield point at beam-column connections where the internal forces at beam elements exceed the design capacity of the beams. The Labuan Airport building was performed the early yielding point at 3.85 sec for column element at intensity 0.05g. The study indicates that the plastic hinge initially formed on the column at the lower storey level for both low and high rise building frames. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

fter the recent Central Italy Earthquake of the 6th April 2009 (Mw = 6.3), the Italian and German engineer and geophysicist Task Force carried out a wide characterization of sites, buildings and damages. In Navelli, a town about 35 km far from epicentre, heavy damage occurred on a reinforced concrete (RC) building that represent an anomalous case of damage, when compared with those occurred in the neighbouring area. In this paper, characterization of the site and damage of the Navelli RC Building is reported and discussed. We performed ambient noise and strong motion measurements, installing one three-directional accelerometer on each floor of the structure and two in free-field, and we have carried out repeated measurements using a couple of three-directional tromometers. In the mean time, a geological survey was carried out and the site response was investigated, with the aid of down-hole measurements. It was thus possible to investigate the structural response and damage taking into account site condition. One of the main results of this work is that repeating analyses using ambient noise measurements show that the main structural frequencies reached after the first damaging shock are constant over time, and then the structural behaviour appears stationary at long term. On the other hand, the strong motion recordings show that the building exhibits a transient non-stationary behaviour as the fundamental frequency changes during each aftershock, then returning to the starting value after each event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Seismic risk assessment of reinforced concrete buildings needs consideration of seismic hazard, building vulnerability and consequence of failure. Different statistical methods are proposed to discern vulnerable buildings for retrofit prioritization. This paper utilized reported seismic induced damage data and illustrated eight different statistical damage classification techniques, naive Bayes, k-nearest-neighbor (kNN), Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis (FLDA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA), multilayer perceptron neural networks (MLP-NN), classification tree (CT), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF). Six building performance modifiers were considered in this study for damage classification: number of stories above the ground level (N), soft story index (SSI), overhang ratio (OHR), minimum normalized lateral stiffness index (MNLSTFI), minimum normalized lateral strength index (MNLSI) and normalized redundancy score (NRS). The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the selected statistical approaches to classify the damage of concrete buildings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article contributes to the development and application of two latest-generation methods of seismic risk analysis in urban areas. The first method, namely vulnerability index method (VIM), considers five non-null damage states, defines the action in terms of macroseismic intensity and the seismic quality of the building by means of a vulnerability index. The estimated damage degree is measured by semi-empirical functions. The second method, namely capacity spectrum based method (CSBM), considers four no damage states, defines the seismic action in terms of response spectra and the building vulnerability by means of its capacity spectrum. In order to apply both methods to Barcelona (Spain) and compare the results, a deterministic and a probabilistic hazard scenario with soil effects are used. The deterministic one corresponds to a historic earthquake, while the probabilistic seismic ground motion has a probability of exceedence of 10% in 50 years. Detailed information on the building design has been obtained along years by collecting, arranging, improving, and completing the database of the dwellings of the city. A Geographic Information System (GIS) has been customized allowing storing, analysing, and displaying this large amount of spatial and tabular data of dwellings. The obtained results are highly consistent with the historical and modern evolution of the populated area and show the validity and strength of both methods. Although Barcelona has a low to moderate seismic hazard, its expected seismic risk is significant because of the high vulnerability of its buildings. Cities such as Barcelona, located in a low to moderate seismic hazard region, are usually not aware of the seismic risk. The detailed risk maps obtained offer a great opportunity to guide the decision making in the field of seismic risk prevention and mitigation in Barcelona, and for emergency planning in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of potential seismic risk and losses in urban environments is necessary for several purposes ranging from risk mitigation to city and regional planning. It is well known that loss estimation should be performed within an interdisciplinary setting involving earth sciences and engineering. Field experience from recent events worldwide shows that the spatial variability of seismic damage is due to the combined effects of earthquake source properties, local site conditions and structural characteristics. In this study, a scenario-based multi-input damage estimation framework in an urban region was utilized for the Gaziantep city center (southeastern Turkey) that is located in a region of high seismic hazard with no large events in the instrumental era. Initially, a thorough geological and seismo-tectonic assessment of the area was performed followed by estimation of two critical scenario events with moment magnitude (Mw) of 6.5 and 6.6 on nearby active faults. Then, a regional velocity model was compiled from regressions of existing regional geotechnical and seismic data in terms of the V S30 parameter. As the next step, field surveys for the assessment and classification of buildings in the study area were performed followed by vulnerability analyses. As the last step, the mean damage ratios were computed at 198 neighborhoods within the city center. The results indicate not only a high hazard but also high risk in the Gaziantep area due to the combination of close proximity to the faults along with local site effects and building fragilities. • Identification of seismic source characteristics of Gaziantep city, Turkey. • Development of regional seismic velocity model. • Simulation of ground motion records for the selected scenario earthquakes. • Identification of building stock characteristics in the study area and derivation of seismic fragility curves for each building typology. • Estimation of regional seismic damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments in the field of earthquake engineering over the past few decades have contributed to the development of new methods for evaluating the risk levels in buildings. These research methods are rapid visual screening (RVS), seismic risk indexes, and vulnerability assessments, which have been developed to assess the levels of damage in a building or its structural components. RVS methods have been proposed for the rapid pre- and/or post-earthquake screening of existing large building stock in earthquake-prone areas on the basis of sidewalk surveys. The site seismicity, the soil type, the building type, and the corresponding building characteristic features are to be separately examined, and the vulnerability level of each building can be identified by employing the RVS methods. This study describes, evaluates, and compares the findings of previous investigations that utilized conventional RVS methods within a framework. It also suggests the methods to be used for specific goals and proposes prospective enhancement strategies. Furthermore, the article discusses the time-consuming RVS methods (such as FEMA 154, which requires from 15 to 30 min, while NRCC requires one hour), and provides an overview of the application areas of the methods (pre-earthquake: FEMA 154, NRCC, NZEE, etc.; postearthquake: GNDT, EMS, etc.). This review of the traditional RVS methods offers a comprehensive guide and reference for field practitioners (e.g., engineers, architects), and recommends enhancement techniques (e.g., machine learning, fuzzy logic) for researchers to be used in future improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1855 earthquake at Visp remains the strongest in the last 300 yr in Switzerland. It caused heavy damage in the region of the middle Valais. We reconstructed the damage field of this event studying also site effects and building vulnerability. The key factors in such a study are the availability and accessibility of sufficient historical data. Given the existence of a complete contemporary damage assessment and the availability of early statistics, our investigation drew upon an excellent pool of data. These sources enabled us to quantitatively analyse the damage field on the village level. Other historical sources described some of the losses with more detail but not across the whole area. These data were qualitatively analysed and then used to calibrate and verify the outcomes of the quantitative analysis. When it was possible to describe the damage fields of single villages, as with Visp, a high percentage of damaged buildings could be located so exactly as to foster further investigation. In addition we identified several secondary effects such as rock fall, landslides and changes in the subsurface. The observed damages support the thesis of a normal fault striking along the Valley of Visp (north–south) and dipping to the west. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a model able to analyse the seismic behaviour of road network in urban areas, considering interaction between buildings and roads is presented. Damage to buildings and short-term countermeasures, such as propping, can affect roads and even block them, reducing capacity of the road network. Two successive phases are considered. In the first, immediately after the seismic event, emergency services have to reach the relevant buildings. Here, the network topology is of interest. In the second, in the long term, network capacity is not yet completely restored and network demand has to account for displaced people due to unusable buildings. In this case, road serviceability is of interest. In order to consider uncertainties on building behaviour, a probabilistic approach is developed and the network is analysed by means of Monte Carlo simulation. The methodology is applied to the municipality of Potenza (southern Italy) evaluating in the short term, the probability of strategic buildings are not connected and, in the long term, road serviceability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study on uncertainties in building inventory and vulnerability assessment for the city of Basel, Switzerland a moderate hazard but high-risk area is presented. Emphasis is put on the special conditions and demands on the data assessment procedure in such an environment. The building information was assessed from the sidewalk using a method similar to that proposed in FEMA-154. With only three persons working for two weeks, about 10% of the city’s building stock was assessed. The quality of the dataset was tested by using pre-existing reference data. These tests revealed patterns of misinterpreted structural information; important features like the floor type in URM buildings were difficult to identify. Six methods are proposed to derive building vulnerability from the collected structural information using the definitions of EMS98. The variation between the individual results was investigated in detail. A sample earthquake scenario with intensity IX in the city of Basel is used to demonstrate the influence of uncertainty in the inventory on the scenario results. The range of variation in the results is huge. Overall damage in the six scenarios differed by up to 27%. The amount of collapsed buildings in the historical part of the city comprised between 28% in the worst case and 3% in the best. There is a distinct influence of the inspector’s opinion visible in the scenario results, which introduces a remarkable uncertainty. This emphasizes the importance of reliable inventory assessments and makes uncertainty analysis in earthquake scenarios indispensable – especially in areas of moderate seismicity where observational data from earthquake damage is missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A risk analysis procedure is developed to predict economic risks due to changes to existing housing vulnerability over time. The wind hazard and building vulnerability models are based on exposure of residential construction to cyclones in North Queensland, Australia. A feature of the building vulnerability model is that it includes the effect of enhanced (post-1980) building standards in North Queensland. A cyclone damage risk-cost-benefit analysis is then used to assess the economic viability of strengthening existing houses to post-1980 construction quality for temporal changes in economic risks for two scenarios: (i) retrofitting pre-1980 houses to post-1980 quality immediately after they experience cyclone damage, or (ii) rate of growth of the proportion of post-1980 construction. The cost of retrofit or additional cost of strengthened construction can be included in the risk analysis to help assess the economic viability of these and other scenarios. Results are given in terms of annual and annualised economic risks and the damage loss conditional on occurrence of an Average Recurrence Interval event. The annualised economic risk is a time-variant measure of risk that is influenced by temporal changes in building vulnerability, which can be used to help determine the time when a particular strengthening strategy will be economically viable. “Zones of economic viability” determine the potential for cost-effective retrofitting of residential construction. The risk analysis also enabled the time to economic viability to be calculated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The extensive loss of human lives and building damage sustained during past tsunamis drove development of the first tsunami risk assessment in Israel. Although past tsunamis have occurred along the eastern Mediterranean coasts, no data is available for empirical hazard and risk analysis. Thus, our assessment focused on a simulated tsunami generated by an Mw 8.2 earthquake along the eastern Cypriot Arc (about 200 km NW of Haifa) in Bat Galim, the most vulnerable neighborhood in the city of Haifa, situated along the Mediterranean coast in northern Israel. This tsunami event represents the worst-case scenario threatening Bat Galim. Exposure data were taken from the National Archives of the Survey of Israel and was verified with a field survey. Two approaches were taken to derive the most appropriate vulnerability models for the study: first, already published Damage Criteria (DC) were developed based on information from past tsunami events around the world; second, damage functions were applied using the Hazus Tsunami Model (HTM), a multi-parameter loss estimation tool built using detailed engineering knowledge. Risk was considered the product of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Following several parametric studies and sensitivity tests, we produced loss assessment results from the two most realistic model outcomes and arrived at conclusions meaningful for tsunami preparedness in northern Israel. Most importantly, we note that the loss of life far surpasses building damage. Increasing community preparedness is the simplest and most cost-effective way to significantly reduce the risk of casualties during a tsunami. We also note that upgrading the seismic design of existing structures according to required standards in Israel will decrease vulnerability to tsunamis and expand possibilities for vertical evacuation. We discuss the accuracy and reliability of our analysis and demonstrate that a simple DC approach is useful for preliminary investigation in cases of limited data. The HTM however, requires detailed preparation and data inputs but produces more realistic loss estimates. These insights may aid others during future implementation of tsunami loss modeling in threatened coastal communities. • Damage Criteria assessment allows for quick and simple estimation of tsunami building losses. • Hazus Tsunami Model allows for comprehensive tsunami risk assessment. • Model building type, height and seismic design are key factors for tsunami risk evaluation. • Anti-seismic reinforcement also mitigate tsunami risk and expand ways for vertical evacuation. • Community preparedness is the best cost-effective way to reduce tsunami casualties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Santorini Island, located in the Southern Aegean Sea, is prone to tsunamis due to its proximity to the Hellenic subduction zone, which is one of the major tsunamigenic areas. Characteristic events, such as those of 365 A.D. and 1303 A.D. greatly affected the coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, causing significant loss of life and construction damage. Tsunami disaster risk is nowadays significantly higher due to the increased exposure of the buildings as a result of the economic and touristic growth of the Aegean Islands. This study focuses on the eastern coast of Santorini, since its morphology and human presence amplify the necessity to assess its building vulnerability. After conducting an exposure analysis at the settlements of the eastern coast, Kamari poses the highest physical, social and economic relative exposure to any potential natural hazard. The main objective of this research is to quantify the building stock's vulnerability to tsunami hazard. For this purpose, a "worst-case run-up scenario" was developed. Considering the history of tsunamis in the Aegean Sea, an extreme sea-level rise after a 10 m a.s.l. tsunami run-up, caused by an earthquake with Mw~8.5, was assumed. The relative vulnerability of the buildings in Kamari was calculated via the application of the Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment (PTVA-4) analytic model. The results indicate that 423 buildings are within the inundation zone, 58% of which are characterized as highly and very highly vulnerable to tsunamis, revealing the problematic characteristics of the building stock, offering important information to the decision-makers to mitigate a possible future tsunami impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic vulnerability and hazard analyses play a significant role in comprehensive risk mitigation and seismic emergency planning, especially for the rural Weinan prefecture in northwestern China with a complex construction infrastructure and a high population density. Traditional methods assessing potential physical seismic damage prior to an earthquake are providing an incomplete picture for seismic risk assessments and post-disaster situations, and are insufficient for local authorities to plan mitigation strategies effectively. This study presents a novel perspective on scenario-based seismic vulnerability and hazard assessment. First, an in situ survey was carried out in three villages, Helan, Zhaojia, and Dongyu Village in the plain, loess, and mountain area respectively. Then, a quantitative analysis of building vulnerability and associated human homelessness under different seismic intensities was conducted based on the RISK-UE vulnerability index method. Finally, we estimated and analyzed other seismic impact scenarios. Results showed that the mean building vulnerability index is 0.69, 0.70, and 0.76 for Helan, Zhaojia, and Dongyu Village, respectively. Considering the possible displaced populations, Dongyu Village will have the highest proportion of homeless people. If an earthquake causes intensity greater than VII, Dongyu Village would suffer landslides and isolated-communication. The residents would have to rely on self-rescue and mutual rescue. These findings can be a potential guide to decision making in disaster risk reduction in rural Weinan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]