ABSTRACT
This paper is a summary of analysis [1] carried out on the Martin Centre vulnerability database, which comprises some 70,000 buildings surveyed in 13 different earthquakes and an extensive compilation of published damage data. A continuous scale of seismic intensity is derived from the damage distributions which allows more accurate predictions of damage than the standard aggregation by intensity assignment using MM or MSK intensity scales. Using the Parameterless Scale of Intensity, (\|/ PSI) predictions of damage can be made within 25 percentage points with 90% confidence. This compares with 75 percentage points using assigned intensity. PSI is correlated with instrumentally recorded ground motion and shown to correlate well with parameters of acceleration. Predictions of seismic hazard using PHGA or MRSA can be made within ± 2.5 PSI units with 90% confidence.
