Delineation of Regional High Seismic Risk Zone for More Targeted Seismic Risk Mitigation

Abstract

Despite global efforts to reduce seismic risk, earthquake remains one of the most destructive natural disasters in the world, especially for seismic active zones when they are characterized by high densification of fixed assets and population. For a specific country or region, the most effective way to achieve earthquake resilience is preparedness prior to an earthquake. To mitigate potential seismic risk, it is important to understand where high seismic risk zone locates, since the budgetary resources available from the local government are always limited and they should be allocated to such zone with priority. This paper proposes a strategy to delineate regional high seismic risk zone by combing different seismic risk assessment results, aiming to make the seismic risk mitigation practice more targeted and operable. Our analyses show that while the delineated high seismic risk zone occupies only ~10% of the case study area, it accounts for ~90% of the total seismic risk in terms of economic loss. To achieve more targeted seismic risk mitigation, we recommend that such zone should be given top priority in seismic risk mitigation.