Simple Survey Procedures for Seismic Risk Assessment in Urban Building Stocks

Cities under significant seismic risk contain a large number of vulnerable buildings. An effective risk assessment measure is to identify the most vulnerable buildings, which may undergo severe damage in a future earthquake. A two-level risk assessment procedure is proposed here. The first level is based on recording building parameters from the street side. In the second level, these are extended by structural parameters measured by entering the ground story. Statistical correlations have been obtained by employing a database of 477 damaged buildings surveyed after the 1999 Diizce earthquake. The results revealed that the parameters observed from the street and measured at the ground story provide strong guidance for identifying those buildings that jeopardize the life safety of their occupants.