A universal approach for evaluating earthquake safety level based on societal fatality risk

Residual risk exists in our buildings even if they were designed in conformance with modern codes of practice. Various approaches have been implemented or proposed in the last decade for setting risk-based performance requirements for seismic design of building structures. However, there is insufficient consideration about the aggregated risk for society, which could be significant especially for a densely populated metropolitan city. This paper introduces a rational and universal approach for evaluating the adequacy of structural safety requirements by comparing societal risk functions based on probabilistic loss assessment with a proposed regulatory requirement that aims to limit the mortality rate to “as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP)”. The proposed approach is then applied to Melbourne, Australia, in a case study, which shows that the earthquake fatality risk for the society appears to be unacceptable. The outcome can be used for justification of a seismic retrofitting policy or a required change of the design code level. The proposed scheme is also applicable to other natural hazards and for safety engineering applications generally.