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The aim of this paper is to link earthquake probabilistic and deterministic risk assessment with the decision‐making process in order to implement policies, plans, and procedures to prevent or reduce human and monetary losses.

This study suggests an integrated framework for earthquake consequences management. The framework consists of an earthquake consequences model, value analysis, and socio‐economic analysis, as well as dynamic integration for implementing strategies, policies, and plans.

The developed integrated framework for earthquake consequences management could be used for a study area, especially in developing countries in which human and capital resources are limited.

There is a need to have different case studies to demonstrate how the integrated framework for earthquake consequence management could reduce human and monetary losses due to earthquakes for a study area.

It is important to consider earthquake risks as part of strategic planning for societies that are vulnerable to future earthquakes.

There are several researches which addressed earthquake probabilistic and deterministic risk assessment without linking the decision‐making process in order to implement policies, plans, and procedures to prevent or reduce human and monetary losses. This paper aims to address this issue.

This study suggests an integrated framework for earthquake consequences management. The framework consists of earthquake consequences model, value analysis, and socio‐economic analysis, as well as dynamic integration for implementing strategies, policies, and plans.

The developed integrated framework for earthquakes consequences management could be used for a study area especially in developing countries in which human and capital resources are limited.

There is a need to have different case studies to demonstrate how the integrated framework for earthquake consequence management could reduce human and monetary losses due to earthquakes for a study area.

It is important to consider earthquake risks as part of strategic planning for societies that are vulnerable to future earthquakes.

The purpose of this study is to measure the willingness of general education schools (governmental and private) in the Mecca region to deal with the threat of earthquakes through the identification of the preparedness of school buildings, the differences in the willingness of schools, and examine the relationship between the exposure to previous crises and readiness for future crises.

The authors used a survey method to explore and determine the readiness range of schools by distributing a questionnaire to school principals. The questionnaire measures the readiness range of the institutions to counter earthquake threat through six main fields which were developed based on Federal Emergency Management Agency Resources (www.fema.gov) and were used in developing an earthquake consequences model (Al Momani), namely: previous emergencies measures, previous earthquake experience measures, earthquake mitigation measures, earthquake preparedness measures, earthquake response measures and earthquake recovery measures.

It is apparent that schools are not prepared to deal with future earthquakes regardless of their types (public vs private) and levels (primary, elementary, secondary) which require establishing a department for disaster and crisis management within the public administration of Education headed by a specialist in disasters and crises management to make sure that current school campus, under construction campus, or leased buildings be prepared to deal with disasters and crises as they occur in non‐hazardous locations, compatible with building codes, and equipped with safety means. It is important to prepare a public emergency plan for disasters and crises and to train school administrators and teachers to prepare contingency plans for disaster management in school. Finally, there is a need to prepare disasters awareness programs benefiting from public and private media, internet, and workshops through utilizing experiences of other developed countries in disasters and crises management especially for schools.

This research could be used to augment the need of developing education system preparedness in Jeddah Province through implementing effective mitigation, preparedness, and response, as well as recovery options.

This study aims to provide resiliency against earthquakes to the framework of an urban road network and to construct a comprehensive model with sufficient computational detail to assist metropolitan managers as a decision support tool in emergency situations via parametric analysis (model behaviour analysis with parameter changes) to quantify the consequences of decisions.

Performed stages are: developing existing resilience assessment frameworks for use against earthquakes in urban road networks, identifying earthquake scenarios and estimating the weight of components using AHP, including an example modelling of Tehran; and developing modelling software (using Matlab®).

This study produced a software that performs three-dimensional (3D) graphical modelling, resiliency index measurements and its parametric analyses for the road networks against earthquakes. Based on this model, a prioritized list of upgrades is also introduced. The developed tool also addresses issues regarding the allocation of limited resources between the network components.

Because of the novelty of the study, there is limited literature on this topic.

The developed model provides urban managers with a comprehensive list of upgrades and empowering them to graphically and numerically evaluate the resiliency changes as they alter the parameters of these measures and balance their decisions based on available funding.

In contrast to previous studies, this study has focused on all of these three keywords: resiliency, earthquake and road networks, and not only two of them.

Reconstruction processes after an earthquake require estimating repair costs to decide on whether to repair or rebuild. This requires an accurate post-earthquake cost estimation tool. Currently, there are no post-earthquake loss estimation models to estimate repair costs accurately. There are loss assessment tools available, namely, HAZUS, performance assessment calculation tool (PACT), seismic performance and loss assessment tool (SLAT) and seismic performance prediction tool, which have not been specifically used for post-earthquake repair cost estimation. This paper aims to focus on identifying factors that need to be considered when upgrading these tools for post-earthquake repair cost estimation.

The research was conducted as an exploratory study using a literature review, document analysis of the PACT, SLAT and HAZUS software and 18 semi-structured interviews.

The research identified information sources available for estimation and factors to be considered when developing estimations based on the information sources.

The data was collected from professionals who were involved mostly in housing repair work in New Zealand. Therefore, impact of these repair work factors might vary in other forms of structures such as civil structures include bridges and the country as a result of varying construction details and standards.

The identified factors will be used to improve the loss estimation tools are such as PACT and HAZUS, as well as to develop a post-earthquake repair cost estimation tool.

Currently, the identified factors impacting post-earthquake damage repair cost estimations are not considered in loss estimation tools. Factors identified in this research will help to develop a more accurate cost estimation tool for post-earthquake repair work.

This paper aims to present a literature review on the problem of fire following earthquake (FFE) as a potential hazard to communities in seismically active regions. The paper is important to work toward resilient communities that are subject to extreme hazards.

The paper lists and reviews the historical FFE events (20 earthquakes from 7 countries), studies the available analytical tools to evaluate fire ignition and spread in communities after an earthquake, discusses the available studies on performance of individual buildings under post-earthquake fires and summarizes the current literature on mitigation techniques for post-earthquake fires.

FFE can be considered a potential hazard for urban communities that are especially not prepared for such conditions. The available analytical models are not yet fully up to the standards that can be used by city authorities for decision-making, and therefore, should be further validated. Limited structural analyses of individual buildings under FFE scenarios have been completed. Results show that the drift demand on the building frame increases during post-earthquake fires. Despite the mitigation actions, there are still urban cities that are not prepared for such an event, such as certain areas of California in the USA.

The paper is a complete and an exhaustive collection of literature on different aspects of FFE. Research in earthquake engineering is well advanced, while structural analyses under fire load and performance of communities under FFE can be further advanced.

Attempting to explore the role of direct experience in influencing disaster consciousness and public opinion, the purpose of this paper is to carry out comparative analyses of Japanese people’s knowledge, risk perception, and policy preference about large-scale earthquake disaster before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake. More importantly, aiming to provide implications regarding the application of past experience, the predictive power of direct experience on disaster consciousness is also examined.

This study analyzed parts of the data collected from two nationwide public opinion surveys among Japanese conducted by the Japanese Government. Analyses of variance were performed to examine changes in disaster consciousness. A path model was developed to examine the predicted effects of direct experience. χ2 tests were performed to examine changes in strategy preference.

This study found significant changes in Japanese people’s knowledge of natural hazards and perception of mega disaster risk. Tests of the path model suggested significant positive effect of societal level impact on disaster consciousness and strong predictive power of knowledge on risk perception. Significant changes in strategy preference were also found.

Results supported the predictive power of direct experience, highlighting the significance of recalling past experience as well as creating indirect experience to raise public consciousness and motivate appropriate actions.

This is one of the few studies that investigate changes in public opinion among Japanese before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a system based on the data flow diagram (DFD), which can be used to help urban policy makers reduce the consequences of natural disasters.

The paper considers the socio‐technical perspective of government information systems and management, and draws on the collection and analysis of several public reports, media papers, and expert opinions published in the aftermath of the earthquake in Bam, Iran in December 2003, as one of the most destructive urban disasters in Iran and worldwide.

Considering the rescue and disaster management activities after Bam earthquake, the paper examines and discusses how important a clear DFD‐based system for managing urban disasters is. Moreover, the DFD model is suggested as an expert system to better handle and manage operations and different organizations involved in the rescue process.

The paper requires a practical pilot implementation of DFD‐based system.

The authors believe that the research outcomes and results can assist governments and public managers in preparing and developing a disaster management system in controlling the consequences of urban disasters such as earthquake.

This research reveals the importance and necessity of having a comprehensive and well‐planned system to be prepared for controlling and managing urban disasters and their consequences. Moreover, the results are based on the observations and interviews made in the city of Bam, right after the earthquake, so it provides an invaluable understanding about the specific conditions of the city after that deadly disaster.

Portugal experienced very destructive earthquakes in the past, such as the well-known “Lisbon earthquake” in 1755. With such in mind, accurate estimates of human and economic losses can play a significant role in providing various societal key players with objective information for response strategies. This paper aims to present the contribution of the most recent study in Portugal (PRISE) concerning comprehensive seismic risk assessment, which can be used as good practice and reproduced in different contexts.

PRISE (earthquake loss assessment of the Portuguese building stock) covered three main lines of research, corresponding to the three components typically considered in any seismic risk assessment study: the characterization of the seismic hazard, the identification of the exposure to earthquakes and loss potential and the vulnerability of the exposed assets. Each of these components has been fully characterized through the collection of census and local data (exposure), used to carry out nonlinear analysis (hazard and fragility).

By involving different research institutions and partners with extensive knowledge and expertise in the earthquake domains, the developed model is capable of producing economic and human earthquake loss estimates in real time (through an innovative Web-based platform) or for specific event scenarios, considering exposed population, residential and industrial buildings. The platform uses open-source tools and hence, it can be reproduced in other countries or contexts.

Research wise, the hazard, vulnerability and exposure models can still be significantly improved, e.g. by adding critical infrastructure (hospitals, school buildings and bridges) or updating the nonlinear models, for more accurate loss predictions.

The findings and loss estimates for different earthquake scenarios show that planned interventions are required. Decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders (Civil Protection) can make use of the developed platform to produce specific estimates, to test the effect of different retrofitting interventions or to plan for emergency scenarios.

A real-time Web-based framework to estimate building damage and economic/human losses because of seismic events has been developed, aiming to provide the Portuguese Civil Protection and other playmakers with a unique platform for planning and preparing for emergency scenarios.

This article examines the economic impact of a major California earthquake, by focusing on the catastrophic damage to residential real estate. It asserts that the damage, although substantial, would be small relative to the U.S. GNP. The author also asserts that the risk can be optimally allocated through reasonably priced insurance contracts and well‐functioning insurance derivative markets.