@article {bnh-2586, title = {Economic loss modelling of earthquake damaged buildings}, number = {158}, year = {2016}, month = {02/2016}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Earthquake action has only been considered in structural design in Australia\ since the early 1990s. With a very low building replacement rate many Australian buildings are vulnerable to major earthquakes and pose significant risk to lives, properties and economic activities. The vulnerability of buildings was evident in the Newcastle Earthquake of 1989 which has been reported to have caused damage to more than 70,000 properties and an estimated total economic loss of AU$ 4 billion.

Models that are capable of predicting potential economic loss in future earthquakes are fundamental in the formulation of risk mitigation and retrofitting strategies. This report presents a review of the existing techniques and methodologies that have been developed for the earthquake damage loss modelling of buildings. Key components of the methodologies including definition of hazard intensity, classification of building data (developed separately by GA), definition of building damage states and definition of the relationship between the hazard intensity and resulting building damage will be discussed.

By developing an improved regional benefit-cost analysis methodology that analyses varying levels of retrofit by means of fragility curve-generated damage state probabilities, it is possible to demonstrate that the broad-scale economic benefits to the community outweigh the initial cost of a regional retrofit program. The improved methodology considers the direct economic losses, indirect regional losses to undamaged buildings, social losses due to casualties, as well as the fiscal benefits of preserving the heritage of the community.\  It is anticipated that this model and information that it provides will be fed to the {\textquoteleft}Decision Support{\textquoteright} research team.

}, issn = {158}, author = {Michael Griffith and Wade Lucas} }