Quantitative seismic risk assessment of wood-frame buildings in Richmond, British Columbia

An accurate assessment of aggregate seismic loss of structures and infrastructure is the key to successful earthquake risk management. For this, a seismic risk model for multiple buildings is developed by incorporating new ground motion models, spatial correlation models of seismic excitations, and peak inelastic ductility models of degrading structural systems with pinching behavior, and is then applied to 1574 existing wood-frame buildings in Richmond, British Columbia. The analysis results identify the use of an adequate spatial correlation model of peak ground motions and the determination of the expected seismic capacity as the most significant model components. Therefore, they should be examined and elaborated more thoroughly in future investigations.