HR: 0800h
AN: S51A-0222    [Abstracts]
TI: A new Tool for Estimating Losses due to Earthquakes: QUAKELOSS2
AU: Kaestli, P
EM: philipp.kaestli@sed.ethz.ch
AF: Swiss Seismological Service, ETH-Hoenggerberg, Zuerich, 8093, Switzerland
AU: * Wyss, M
EM: max@maxwyss.com
AF: World Agency of Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk Reduction, 2 rue de Jargonnant, Geneva, 1207, Switzerland
AU: Bonjour, C
EM: cyrill.bonjour@bjengineering.ch
AF: Bonjour Engineering, Kirchmattstr. 28, Lostorf, 4654, Switzerland
AU: Wiemer, S
EM: s.wiemer@sed.ethz.ch
AF: Swiss Seismological Service, ETH-Hoenggerberg, Zuerich, 8093, Switzerland
AU: Wyss, B M
EM: bmw@benwyss.com
AF: Bonjour Engineering, Kirchmattstr. 28, Lostorf, 4654, Switzerland
AB: WAPMERR and the Swiss Seismological Service are developing new software for estimating mean damage to buildings, number of injured and number of fatalities due to earthquakes worldwide. The focus for applications is real-time estimates of losses after earthquakes in countries without dense seismograph networks, and results that are easy to digest by relief agencies. Therefore, the standard version of the software addresses losses by settlement, subdivisions of settlements and important pieces of infrastructure. However, a generic design, an open source policy and well defined interfaces will allow the software to work on any gridded or discrete building stock data, to do Monte-Carlo simulations for error assessment and to plug in more elaborate source models than simple point and line sources and thus to compute realistic loss scenarios as well as probabilistic risk maps. It will provide interfaces to SHAKEMAP and PAGER, such that innovations developed for the latter programs may be used in QUAKELOSS2, and vice versa. A client server design will provide a front-end web interface where the user may directly manage servers as well as run the software in one's&pown laboratory. The input-output features and mapping will be designed to allow the user to run QUAKELOSS2 remotely with basic functions, as well as in a laboratory setting including a full-featured GIS setup for additional analysis. In many cases, the input data (earthquake parameters as well as population and building stock data) are poorly known for developing countries. Calibration of loss estimates, using past earthquakes that have caused damage and WAPMERR's experience of four years" estimating losses, will help to produce approximately correct results in countries with strong earthquake activity. A worldwide standard dataset on population and building stock will be provided as open source together with the software. The dataset will be improved successively, based on input from satellite images, international databases, local specialists and formalized feedback by the seismological user community.
UR: http://www.wapmerr.org
DE: 7212 Earthquake ground motions and engineering seismology
DE: 7299 General or miscellaneous
SC: Seismology [S]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting