Seismic Loss Estimation Using Experimental Fragility and Vulnerability Functions: Case Study of Buzau County, Romania
Publication: Natural Hazards Review
Volume 23, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper is focused on the seismic risk assessment of Buzau County in Romania. This county overlays the most active seismic source in the region, namely, the Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic source which has produced nine earthquakes with moment magnitude in the last two centuries. Over 40% of the population within this county inhabits traditional adobe buildings for which there are very few available fragility or vulnerability functions in the literature. To overcome this shortcoming, in this study, both fragility and vulnerability functions are developed based on recent experimental research performed at the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest. The seismic risk assessment is performed using two approaches based on both fragility and vulnerability functions. The results of the analyses show considerable differences between the two risk assessment methods and a significant influence of the fragility of the adobe structures on the seismic risk results.
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Data Availability Statement
No data, models, or code were generated or used during the study.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS—UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2016-1073. The first two authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support. The constructive feedback from three anonymous reviewers is greatly appreciated by the authors as it has helped to considerably improve the quality of the original manuscript.
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Published In
Natural Hazards Review
Volume 23 • Issue 1 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 2, 2020
Accepted: Aug 15, 2021
Published online: Sep 24, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 24, 2022
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