Evaluating Seismic Vulnerability of Residential Buildings by Rapid Evaluation Method (REM)

Increased urbanization of a city may create a higher seismic risk. This study investigates Jeddah city, rapidly expanding in the number of buildings and population, to address the rapid evaluation of residential buildings using the rapid evaluation method (REM) to assess building stock to determine hazard and evaluate vulnerability through the scoring method from FEMA 155. Two districts were selected based on a cluster analysis of population and building data. One is a developing urbanized area, and the other is a traditional area. This offers a possibility to compare the vulnerability of buildings constructed according to different seismic codes and to make assumptions about the rest of the city based on typical structures. The basic structural score was determined considering the building structure and moderate seismicity of the region using score modifiers, e.g. vertical irregularity and soil score modifier, assuming sabkhas. The result of the investigation shows different levels of vulnerability and areas where intervention is needed.