Perception and Communication of Seismic Risk: Design and Implementation of a Functional Tool

Abstract

A web-based system is designed and implemented as a risk communication tool to incentivize the public to take seismic risk mitigation measures. Risk denotes the expected monetary and social losses herein. The objective of this system is to raise the awareness of two audience groups, the general public and decision makers, about significant seismic risk in Iran. To address the general public, the system employs the notion of risk perception to put the results of sophisticated earthquake engineering risk analyses into perspective. The system also treats the epistemic uncertainty of user input due to the public’s lack of technical knowledge through the notion of entropy in information theory. The object-oriented architecture of the system facilitates its steady growth to accommodate more advanced risk analysis techniques. To address decision makers, the system provides visualized regional risk estimates that identify the most vulnerable buildings and those with the highest potential fatality rate. This is showcased by a comprehensive application that features a portfolio of information on the 59 buildings at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.