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Modelling the elements of country vulnerability to earthquake disasters
Author(s) -
Asef M.R.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2008.01051.x
Subject(s) - natural disaster , vulnerability (computing) , preparedness , earthquake casualty estimation , earthquake scenario , scale (ratio) , urban seismic risk , emergency management , vulnerability assessment , poison control , forensic engineering , geography , population , environmental planning , risk analysis (engineering) , environmental resource management , business , civil engineering , computer science , engineering , environmental science , computer security , environmental health , political science , cartography , economic growth , psychology , seismic hazard , economics , psychological resilience , meteorology , medicine , law , psychotherapist
Earthquakes have probably been the most deadly form of natural disaster in the past century. Diversity of earthquake specifications in terms of magnitude, intensity and frequency at the semi‐continental scale has initiated various kinds of disasters at a regional scale. Additionally, diverse characteristics of countries in terms of population size, disaster preparedness, economic strength and building construction development often causes an earthquake of a certain characteristic to have different impacts on the affected region. This research focuses on the appropriate criteria for identifying the severity of major earthquake disasters based on some key observed symptoms. Accordingly, the article presents a methodology for identification and relative quantification of severity of earthquake disasters. This has led to an earthquake disaster vulnerability model at the country scale. Data analysis based on this model suggested a quantitative, comparative and meaning full interpretation of the vulnerability of concerned countries, and successfully explained which countries are more vulnerable to major disasters.