Building Fragility Curves for the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Based on Damage Survey in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The authors investigated the building damage conditions in five areas of Galle, Matara, and Hambantota, Sri Lanka after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. This paper presents tsunami vulnerability functions for the buildings in the country as a relationship between building damage and inundation. In order to develop the functions, 1,535 building damage data in terms of structural types, solid (mainly reinforced concrete) and non-solid (masonry and timber-frame), and inundation height data of 153 points obtained by the field survey and contour models were examined. The developed fragility curves show structural differences clearly and it will be useful for damage estimation to reduce tsunami damage in the future.