Modeling the Residential Building Inventory in South America for Seismic Risk Assessment

This study presents an open and transparent exposure model for the residential building stock in South America. This model captures the geographical distribution, structural characteristics (including information about construction materials, lateral load resisting system, range of number of stories), average built-up area, replacement cost, expected number of occupants, and number of dwellings and buildings. The methodology utilized to develop this model was based on national population and housing statistics and expert judgment from dozens of local researchers and practitioners. This model has been developed as part of the South America Risk Assessment (SARA) project led by the Global Earthquake Model (GEM), and it can be used to perform earthquake risk analyses. It is available at different geographical scales for seven Andean countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.