The Application of a Uniform Framework of Seismic Vulnerability Assessment to South American Countries

Seismic loss estimation faces multiple challenges pertaining to the modeling of regional seismicity, ground motion, exposure distribution and vulnerability assessment. A common approach in modelling vulnerability in this context is to group buildings with similar seismic behavior based on construction material, structural system and height. This approach is adequate provided that seismic performance of the buildings does not significantly vary temporally and spatially within the model domain. This is however not the case in South America or in many regions of the world. This paper focuses on presenting the local information necessary for the application of a uniform framework of seismic vulnerability assessment to South American countries based on the stringency of design codes. An application of the vulnerability framework to building age distributions in different regions is also presented.