Seismic vulnerability assessment for buildings in Greece based on observed damage data sets

A database of observed damage to Greek reinforced concrete (RC) and unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings is compiled from post-earthquake damage surveys carriedout by government authorities and university researchers after four different moderate magnitude shallow crustal earthquakes that took place in the period 1986 to 2003. It contains data sets on 28,747 buildings. The data sets are homogenized by the development of damage scales specific to RC and URM buildings respectively. The European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) of intensity is used as the common descriptor of ground motion severity. The database allowed the derivation of observed damage-based vulnerability curves to be fitted to the data and describe the relative vulnerability of 10 structural types commonly found in Greece, including the expected performance of RC buildings according to four different periods of construction, the number of floors and the existence or not of soft-storey at ground floor level. This vulnerability analysis covers most of the existing buildings in Greece\'s zone II of the current earthquake code (introduced in 2004) and about half of all the existing buildings in the country and is valid for the EMS-98 intensity range of VI to IX degrees. We also report on the economic cost factors associated with the repair of Greek RC buildings by damage grade and the factors that influence the scatter in the costs of repair, thus allowing earthquake loss assessment and mitigation scenarios to be implemented.