This paper describes a GIS-based assessment of residential building damage caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake in which the fractions of existing buildings damaged at various percentages of replacement cost are related to a range of seismic parameters. The assessment uses data from safety inspection reports and tax assessor records, both of which were geocoded and linked to seismic parameters derived from strong motion records at 164 different sites. The most significant seismic parameters for predicting damage are peak ground velocity and seismic intensity, which is defined as the area under the pseudo-velocity response spectrum for periods ranging from 0.1 to 2.5 s and a damping ratio of 20%. The paper also describes a GIS-based pattern recognition algorithm for identifying locations of most intense building damage. The algorithm provides a framework for rapidly screening remote sensing data and dispatching emerging services.
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