Effective Seismic Risk Reduction Through Integrated Interdisciplinary Research

Abstract eng:
In spite of significant technical advances in understanding seismic effects on structures, improved design and construction over the past 30 years, the losses in each major earthquake event around the world continue to escalate. The prime reason for this is the lack of systems level approach to understand vulnerability to seismic hazard. Technical discipline –driven research has dominated the earthquake engineering research and has significantly improved our understanding of structural behavior, however, an integrated and interdisciplinary methodology in this research is missing. It is necessary to integrate disciplines such as social sciences, economics, emergency management, and public policy in research design to assess the vulnerability of the entire system. The framework of cause and effect has not served well as the dynamic in the society changes constantly. It is argued in this paper that a systems level approach needs to be developed integrating various disciplines and creating a continuous feedback loop providing input on the behavior of the whole system. This systems level approach provides a cost effective and efficient holistic solution to minimize seismic risk to society as it takes into account the impact of sub-systems on the overall system considering their interdependent characteristics.

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