Probabilistic Modeling of Spatio-temporally Varying Natural Hazard and Risk

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Large earthquakes, strong winds and heavy snowfalls can cause fatalities, damage to structures and infrastructure systems, and interrupt business. The structural design codes are used to ensure that the failure probability of a structure due to natural loads is below a tolerable level. However, public reaction to collapse of multiple buildings under extreme natural events indicates that design by considering safety of a single structure alone is important, but may not be in the best societal interest for a portfolio of spatially distributed buildings and for infrastructure with spatially extended footprint. Inhomogeneity in climate and tectonic characteristics results in the natural hazards and loads acting on houses and buildings being spatio-temporally varying and correlated. Probabilistic quantification of the hazards influences the assessed risk and the design code updating. The impact of hazards on the portfolio of buildings or spatially distributed infrastructure systems, such as a power transmission tower-line system, needs to be appraised for successful implementation of policies to mitigate and reduce catastrophic losses. The appraisal promotes excellence in design code making, and optimal resource allocation to reduce natural disasters, maintain our standard of living, and improve societal resilience.