The National Research Council Canada (NRC) recently developed a semi-quantitative seismic risk screening tool (SQST) for existing buildings in Canada. The SQST aims to supersede the Manual for Screening of Buildings for Seismic Investigation developed by NRC in the early 1990s. The SQST consists of three key components: (1) a structural scoring system that quantitatively assesses the structural seismic risk based on probability of collapse; (2) a non-structural component scoring system that qualitatively assesses the seismic risk of non-structural components based on seismic demand; and (3) a ranking procedure that prioritizes potentially hazardous buildings for seismic evaluations and possible upgrading. The SQST intends to inexpensively identify and exempt buildings with acceptable life safety risk and optimize the allocation of resources to assess the seismic risk of portfolios of buildings. Seismic screening with the SQST can be completed with either paper-based screening forms or a web-based application. The applicability of the SQST is demonstrated by conducting a pilot study for 33 existing buildings across Canada.
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