Establishing factors of building vulnerability towards tsunami hazard

Abstract

The objective of this article is to establish the attributes (factors) of building vulnerability towards tsunami hazard, particularly for areas in Padang, Indonesia, as well as those areas with the same characteristics. Within this framework, this study informs the progress towards a more systematic approach to factor development for a Relative Vulnerability Index (RVI) score for assessing the building vulnerability towards tsunami hazard. The RVI score is used to predict tsunami risk zones on building vulnerability. The analysis was conducted to develop the factors that influence the building vulnerability. Developing factors of the building vulnerability to tsunami hazard is a key aspect for assessing the RVI, as their result may misguide local decision-makers to act adequately concerning the local risk if they are based on an inappropriate set of factors. These factors were classified under three distinct groups: 1) internal factors; 2) external factors and 3) water inundation factor. The selection of factors are based on the building and the location characteristics. Therefore, the factors that may influence the risk were listed. Based on the kinds of literature and opinion of practitioners/experts, several imperative factors that affect the risk were identified and studied. The factors were tabulated and were sorted from highest to lowest numbers. Based on the tabulation of these factors, the summary of analysis results for internal factors are: construction material; the number of stories; foundation type; date of the building; preservation condition; ground floor hydrodynamic; shape and orientation of the building. Furthermore, based on the tabulation results for external data factors and tsunami inundation factor, the external factors are: movable object; building row; height of concrete fence; natural barrier; distance from the coastline; distance from the river; obstacle islands and gap between building attributes and water inundation factor is tsunami inundation depth.