The building stock shall be characterized in terms of physical vulnerability to earthquakes. The first step is to divide the structures into classes reflecting construction materials, construction methods and age. The second step is to establish damage functions for each building class (relationships between intensity of ground shaking and expected damage distribution). The product from such a study will serve as basis for any further study of seismic vulnerability in the region, and the homogeneity of the region allows for significant synergy effects between the three countries. The experiences from past earthquakes will be used, and particularly important are the lessons that Nicaragua and Guatemala can learn from the damages in El Salvador during the 2001 earthquakes.
The task will include:
- Establish building categories for each city and preferably with regional applicability. Some selection criteria will be height, building material, load frame type, bracing type, degree of reinforcement etc.. Additionally the function (residential, commercial etc.) will be used for the classification.
- Building categories as function of materials, age and maintenance. (structural system and number of stories are critical parameters, exposure to previous earthquakes may also be very important)
- Establish vulnerability curves.
- Cost effective strengthening recommendations for the building categories.
This task will focus on typical structures in different cities. The structures dominate large parts of the city and need to be characterized through
- Information obtained from the municipalities,
- Walkdowns done by local experts and
- Evaluation done by engineering trained personnel.
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