ER2-Earthquake: Interactive web-application for urban seismic risk assessment

Abstract

Abstract An interactive user-friendly web-based application for urban seismic risk assessment referred to as rapid risk evaluator (ER2) is presented. It combines three major input components: seismic hazard, exposed buildings and respective vulnerabilities. Intended primarily for application by the larger public-safety community, ER2 intuitively guides non-expert users with step-by-step prompts and on-screen instructions through otherwise complex risk scenarios. Open-source software is used to offer the application free of all financial cost for users. The analyses are based on parameters of the well-known FEMA s Hazus method. To accelerate the computation and rapidly obtain estimates of the negative impacts, ER2 employs pre-populated inventory and vulnerability databases. The standard displacement-based structural fragility curves and iterative nonlinear static analyses are replaced with fragility curves determined as direct functions of the shaking intensity. Comparison of damage probability results, economic and social losses concur with Hazus estimates for individual buildings and for aggregated inventory at urban scale. An example of seismic risk assessment for Quebec City, Canada, is shown to illustrate the effectiveness of ER2.