The 6th Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference will be held next week over 22 – 23 May at The Star Gold Coast.

Prof George Mariano Soriano, Senior Engineer at the Department of Public Works and Highways joins us to discuss ‘Formulation of a Rapid Earthquake Risk Ranking Criteria for National Bridges in the National Capital Region affected by the West Valley Fault using GIS Data Integration’.

In this study, a Rapid Earthquake Risk Ranking Criteria of national bridges near the West Valley Fault was formulated by integrating various existing maps and databases by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).

Seismic Hazard Parameters were derived from PHIVOLCS fault lines, liquefaction hazard maps, and DPWH geotechnical borehole data. Meanwhile, existing bridge inventory data from the DPWH Road and Bridge Inventory Application (RBIA) was used in order to extract three vulnerability parameters for national bridges namely; bridge condition rating, bridge length, and bridge age.

The study then proposed corresponding hazard and vulnerability scores for the abovementioned parameters which were then given corresponding weights in the computation of the risk rating. The disaster risk equation was used in computing the seismic damage risk rating of all the bridges within the national capital region. In this study, the top five bridges with the highest seismic damage risk rating were presented with a breakdown of their corresponding seismic hazard and vulnerability scores.

The study aims to accomplish three key objectives: identify bridges at risk in the event of an earthquake in the national capital region, optimize existing data by transforming them into a bridge seismic risk assessment criteria, and translate technical data into a simple and quick ranking that can aid policymakers in disaster risk response.

For more information on the 2017 Australian & New Zealand Disaster & Emergency Management Conference and to secure your spot, visit www.anzdmc.com.au.