Author(s)

T.P. Tassios

Abstract

The vulnerability concept revisited T.P. Tassios National Technical University of Athens, GR-106 82 Athens, Greece Introduction Detailed assessment of the seismic bearing capacity of an individual building is extremely costly and time-consuming. Collective assessment techniques, rapidly applicable (the so called "vulnerability" methods) are used instead, in the case of large building-populations at risk. This paper is but an attempt to describe the philosophy of such rough risk- evaluations via vulnerability studies. Thus, a better insight may be gained; moreover, several empirical vulnerability methods may become amenable to a common rational framework. 1 The overall cost as an estimator of the global risk It is now recognised (see i.a. Augusti, et al. 1987) that the seismic risk is better expressed in terms of total cost of damages to be caused by the "expected" quake: 1.1 Costs due to material-losses a) Structural damage b) Damage of non-structural parts c) Stor

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