Empirical Fragility Functions based on Remote Sensing and Field Data after the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Abstract

In the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010, a joint study for the estimation of damage to the building stock based on aerial images was carried out by UNITAR-UNOSAT, the EC-JRC, and the World Bank/ImageCAT in support of the PDNA. A targeted field campaign was led to the areas affected by the disaster in collaboration with the CNIGS with the purpose of validating the remote sensing based damage assessment. These two methodologies for collecting data resulted in two data sets of the damaged buildings categorized according to the EMS-98 damage grades. In the present study, fragility functions for different urban zones of Haiti, that is, low-, medium-, and high-density built-up and shanty zones, are developed from the remote sensing damage assessment data. Structural fragilities for buildings grouped with respect to material type and number of stories are derived on the basis of field damage data.