ABSTRACT
This paper summarizes the development and application of an advanced, integrated earthquake loss estimation methodology for urban lifeline systems. The methodology, which evaluates direct and indirect economic losses from lifeline failures, provides a means for assessing both expected losses from future earthquakes and potential loss reduction from mitigation alternatives. This effort builds on and coordinates contributions from lifeline earthquake engineering, geography, sociology, and economics by researchers of the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER). The methodology combines Monte Carlo simulations, geographic information systems, business resiliency questionnaire surveys, and economic computable general equilibrium modeling. It is applied to the water delivery system of Memphis, Tennessee, the major city in the New Madrid Earthquake Zone.
