Abstract. Colombia is in one of the most active seismic zones on Earth, where the Nazca, Caribbean, and South American plates converge. Approximately 83 % of the national population lives in intermediate to high seismic hazard zones, and a significant part of the country’s building inventory dates from before the nation’s first seismic design code (1984). At present, seismic risk scenarios are available for the major cities of the country, but there is still a need to undertake such studies in other regions. This paper presents a seismic risk scenario for the “Sabana Centro” province, an intermediate hazard zone located close to the country’s capital. An exposure model was created combining information from the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, surveys, and the national census. Fragility and vulnerability curves were assigned to the building types of the region. A hazard model was developed for the region and eighteen earthquake scenarios with a return period of 475 years were simulated using the OpenQuake (OQ) hazard and risk assessment tool to estimate damage and economic losses. In addition, a social vulnerability index (SVI) based on demographic information was used to assess the direct economic loss in terms of replacement costs. The results show that 18 % of all buildings considered in the region would experience collapse, and 7 % would suffer severe damage. Losses account for 18 % of the total replacement cost of the buildings and represent 15 % of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the region.
More than 1.6 billion people worldwide live in informally constructed houses, many of which are reinforced with concrete. Patterns of past earthquake damage suggest that these homes have significant seismic vulnerabilities, endangering their occupants. The characteristics of these houses vary widely with local building practices. In addition, these vulnerabilities are potentially exacerbated by incremental construction practices and building practices that address wind/flood risk in multi-hazard environments. Yet, despite the ubiquity of this type of construction, there have not been efforts to systematically assess the seismic risks to support risk-reducing design and construction strategies. In this study, we developed a method to assess the seismic collapse capacity of informally constructed housing that accounts for local building practices and materials, quantifying the effect of building characteristics on collapse risk. We exercise the method to assess seismic performance of housing in the US. Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico, which has high seismic hazard and experiences frequent hurricanes. This analysis showed that heavy construction, often due to the addition of a second story, and the presence of an open ground story leads to a high collapse risk. Severely corroded steel bars could also worsen performance. Although houses with infill performed better than those with an open ground story, confined masonry construction techniques produced a major reduction in collapse risk when compared to infilled or open-frame construction. Infill construction with partial height walls performed very poorly. Well-built reinforced concrete column jackets and the addition of infill in open first-story bays can reduce the greater risks of open-ground-story houses. These findings, which are quantified in the results portion of this article, are intended to support the development of design and construction recommendations for safer housing.
Abstract. Colombia is in one of the most active seismic zones on Earth, where the Nazca, Caribbean, and South American plates converge. Approximately 83 % of the national population lives in intermediate to high seismic hazard zones, and a significant part of the country's building inventory dates from before the nation's first seismic design code (1984). At present, seismic risk scenarios are available for the major cities of the country, but there is still a need to undertake such studies in other regions. This paper presents a seismic risk scenario for the Sabana Centro province, an intermediate hazard zone located close to the country's capital. An exposure model was created combining information from the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation, surveys, and the national census. Fragility and vulnerability curves were assigned to the building types of the region. A hazard model was developed for the region and 18 earthquake scenarios with a return period of 475 years were simulated using the OpenQuake (OQ) hazard and risk assessment tool to estimate damage and economic losses. In addition, a social vulnerability index (SVI) based on demographic information was used to assess the direct economic loss in terms of replacement costs. The results show that 10 % of all buildings considered in the region would experience collapse, and 7 % would suffer severe damage. Losses account for 14 % of the total replacement cost of the buildings and represent 21 % of the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of the region.
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