Holistic seismic risk estimation of a metropolitan center

Bogotá, the Capitol City of Colombia, is a 7 million people urban center placed in a moderate seismic hazard prone area of South America. The city has 19 districts with significant physical, economical, and social differences. As a whole, the seismic risk of Bogota is high, but the comparative risk results of its districts are very different depending on social, economic, and resilience differences. Although the city has evaluated detailed seismic microzonation and earthquake loss scenarios, it was necessary to analyze other important variables at district level to estimate the real seismic risk of each one. A comparative and holistic study was developed to include social, economical issues besides the seismological and engineering variables obtained of the detailed microzoning study. This paper presents the multidisciplinary approach used, the methodology, the results, and how the city administration might use them, from the sectoral planning perspective, to promote mitigation measures according to the risk estimation of each district.