Probabilistic Seismic Risk Assessment on a Model Hospital

Abstract

Earthquakes have always posed a danger to human life and been a significant source of infrastructure damage. The major purpose of healthcare institutions is to save lives and lessen the effects of disasters; yet previous earthquakes have caused physical damage, jeopardized lives and ruined such facilities and other such important buildings. Hospital resilience (i.e., endurance and structural rigidity) has always been crucial, but in the past few years, emphasis has been set exclusively on this issue, particularly in the wake of the World Health Organization's (WHO, 2008) and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction's (UNISDR) global campaign ‘Hospitals Safe From Disasters'; the World Health Day (7 April 2009) and the International Day for Disaster Reduction's (14 October 2009) world campaigns. “There are countless examples of health infrastructure — from sophisticated hospitals to small but vital health centre — that have suffered this fate. One such case occurred in the Hospital Juarez in Mexico. In 1985, almost 600 patients and staff lost their lives when this modern (for its time) and well equipped hospital collapsed in the wake of an earthquake” (WHO, 2007a).