Assessing Disaster Risk of Building Stock

This work describes a methodology to assess ¿risk to disaster¿ due to natural hazards, particularly in data poor communities. It is to be used by (1) international organizations and donors to size development programs aiming to reduce risk to disasters and (2) by local authorities as a disaster management tool for implementing risk reduction, mitigation and preparedness programs. The methodology provides the guidelines to assemble a disaster risk information system that incorporates knowledge on natural hazards, construction science and disaster dynamics and is aimed for use by decision makers with the support of technical staff. The methodology is based on Geographical Information System (GIS) technology for the development of a database of disaster related information including built-up infrastructure, population, vulnerability and the occurrence of natural hazards. It integrates Earth Observation (EO) and information collected in situ for generating essential information such as building stock and indirectly population distribution in hazard affected areas. The database can also be used for generating damage assessment in the immediate aftermath of a disaster based on information on the hazard location and its intensity. Damage information can in turn improve the information content of the database to support more accurate risk assessments in the future. The information layers could then become important information that supports the development and urban planning projects.JRC.G.2-Global security and crisis managemen