Introduction

Abstract

At present, there are no globally applicable fatality rates used in loss estimation models and within the research of earthquake casualties, there is certainly a lack of comprehensive data collection in the field following actual events. As the population living in areas exposed to seismic activity continues to increase and settlements are located in more hazardous areas, it is vital that engineers understand the implications of these social changes and use tools available to them to inform decision makers and response teams to mitigate and react to situations of mass earthquake casualties. In Marano et al.’s (Nat Hazards, 49, 2009) assessment of earthquake deaths in the period September 1968 to June 2008, they concluded that 77.7 % of the total earthquake deaths were due to ground shaking-related building damage; if we consider the official death toll of 316,000 for the Haiti earthquake of 2010 (though this figure is much disputed), this would increase the contribution from building damage to over 80 %. The main cause of deaths and injuries, as suggested by previous studies (Coburn and Spence, Earthquake protection 2002; Marano et al. Nat Hazards, 49, 2009) are due to damage and especially due to collapse of buildings. Therefore only in understanding the associations between the levels of damage and the severity and types of injuries can one make headway in deriving realistic estimates of human casualties in future earthquakes.