Challenges Towards Achieving Earthquake Resilience Through Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering

Much has been accomplished in performance-based earthquake engineering over the past two decades. Processes have been established that facilitate probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, evaluation of relevant engineering demand parameters through advanced modeling and nonlinear response history analysis, quantification of damage measures and associated repair/replacement costs at the component level, and aggregation of losses for structural and nonstructural systems. The outcome is a probabilistic assessment of direct economic loss and collapse safety due to earthquakes. In contrast to assessment of structural collapse and direct losses, comparatively less has been accomplished in quantifying factors that affect downtime, business interruption, and community functions. These issues are critically important to bridge between performance of a single structure and the earthquake resilience of a community or region or country. A key aspect of resilience is looking beyond direct damage and losses to their implications on disaster response and recovery. From a societal perspective, resilience is the key challenge to mitigate the lasting effects of earthquakes. Drawing upon relevant research and recent initiatives in California to create more earthquake resilient communities, this paper explores challenges to improve performance-based engineering to address specific aspects of resilience.