Practical seismic resilience evaluation and crisis management planning through GIS-based vulnerability assessment of buildings

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how assessment of seismic vulnerability can be effective in protection against earthquakes. Findings are reported from a case study in a densely populated urban area near an active fault, utilizing practical methods and exact engineering data. Vulnerability factors were determined due to technical considerations, and a field campaign was performed to collect the required data. Multi-criteria decision making was carried out by means of an analytical hierarchy process including a fuzzy standardization. Earthquake scenarios were applied through an implicit vulnerability model. GIS was utilized and the results were analyzed by classifying the state of vulnerability in levels as very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Seismic resilience was evaluated as vulnerabilities below the moderate state, being about 40% in an intensity of 6 Mercalli and less than 10% in 10 Mercalli. It is concluded that seismic resilience in the area studied is not acceptable, the area is vulnerable in the expected scenarios, and due to the high seismicity of the region, proper crisis management planning is required in parallel with attempts toward retrofitting. In this regard, an emergency map was developed with reference to the assessed vulnerabilities.