Integrated Seismic Risk Assessment in Nepal (original) (raw)

As Nepal is at high risk of earthquakes, the district-wide (VDC/Municipality level) study has been performed for vulnerability assessment of seismic-hazard, and the hazard-risk study is incorporated with social conditions as it has become a crucial issue in recent years. There is an interrelationship between hazards, physical risk, and the social characteristics of populations which are significant for policy-makers and individuals. Mapping the spatial variability of average annual loss (seismic risk) and social vulnerability discretely does not reflect the true nature of parameters contributing to the earthquake risk, so when the integrated risk is mapped, such combined spatial distribution becomes more evident. The purpose of this paper is to compute the risk analysis from exposure model of the country using OpenQuake and then integrate the results with socioeconomic parameters. The methodology of seismic-risk assessment and the way of combining the results of the physical risk and socioeconomic data to develop integrated vulnerability score of the regions has been described. This study considers all 75 districts and corresponding VDC/Municipalities using the available census. The combined vulnerability score has been developed and presented by integrating earthquake risk and social vulnerability aspect of the country and represented in form of map produced using ArcGIS 10. The knowledge and information of the relationship between earthquake hazard and the demographic characteristics of population in the vulnerable area is imperative to mitigate the local impact from earthquakes. Therefore, we utilize social vulnerability study as part of a comprehensive risk management framework to recuperate and recover from natural disasters.