An Method for Evaluating Cities' Ability of Reducing Earthquake Disasters

Cities' ability of reducing earthquake disasters is a complex system involving numerous factors.Moreover the research on evaluating cities' ability of reducing earthquake disasters relates to multi-subject,such as earthquake science,social science,economical science and so on.In this paper,firstly,the conception of cities' ability of reducing earthquake disasters is presented,and the ability could be evaluated by three basic elements: the possible seismic casualty,the economic loss during the future earthquakes and the time required for recovery after earthquake.Based upon these three basic elements,a framework,which consists of six main components,for evaluating city's ability of reducing earthquake disasters is proposed.Then,the statistical relations between the index system and the ratio of seismic casualty,the ratio of economic loss and recovery time are gained by utilizing the existing methods for assessing earthquake losses. At last,using the grey correlation method,the comprehensive index of cities' ability of reducing earthquake disasters is defined.Thus the relatively comprehensive theory frame is set up.The frame can be used to evaluate cities' ability of reducing earthquake disasters quantitatively,and the results will throw the light on the decision-making in reducing cities' earthquake disasters.