ISO/TR 18961:2025
(Main)Buildings and civil engineering works — Seismic resilience assessment and strategies — Compilation of relevant information
Buildings and civil engineering works — Seismic resilience assessment and strategies — Compilation of relevant information
This document provides an index of typical existing information on the concept, assessment and strategy for seismic resilience of buildings and civil engineering works.
Bâtiments et ouvrages de génie civil — Eevaluation de la résilience sismique et stratégies — Compilation des informations pertinentes
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
Technical
Report
ISO/TR 18961
First edition
Buildings and civil engineering
2025-01
works — Seismic resilience
assessment and strategies —
Compilation of relevant information
Bâtiments et ouvrages de génie civil — Eevaluation de la
résilience sismique et stratégies — Compilation des informations
pertinentes
Reference number
© ISO 2025
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ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated terms . 1
5 Concept of seismic resilience . 2
6 Assessment . . 2
6.1 General .2
6.2 Determining seismic response .4
6.2.1 Earthquake hazard . .4
6.2.2 Building performance model .5
6.2.3 Building seismic damage state .5
6.3 Assessment using resilience indicators .6
6.3.1 Earthquake-induced casualties .6
6.3.2 Earthquake-induced downtime .7
6.3.3 Earthquake-induced economic losses .7
6.3.4 Seismic resilience level .8
6.4 Seismic resilience-related datasets .8
7 Strategies . 9
7.1 General .9
7.2 Design of built assets .9
7.2.1 Structural design for newly built assets .9
7.2.2 Structural retrofitting for existing built assets.10
7.2.3 Nonstructural design for newly built assets .10
7.2.4 Nonstructural retrofitting for existing built assets .11
7.3 Design for external earthquake-induced hazards .11
Bibliography .12
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through
ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee
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The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
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ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 59, Buildings and civil engineering works.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
[1]
With the issue of the "Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030" , resilience for disaster
risk reduction has become a global consensus. Seismic resilience, as a critical capacity for built assets, needs
to be prioritized. It considers the social, environmental and economic aspects based on conventional seismic
design, ensuring the desired recovery time, tolerable losses and minimal casualties while preventing
collapse.
As a typical example, the conventionally designed building shown in Figure 1 a) underwent severe damage
and lost key functions during an earthquake. By contrast, the building in Figure 1 b), which was designed for
seismic resilience, sustained minimal damage and rapidly regained full postearthquake functionality.
a) Conventionally seismic designed building
b) Seismic-resilient building
Figure 1 — Comparison between buildings designed based on conventional seismic design and
seismic-resilient design concepts
Consequently, seismic resilience has emerged as a critical global concern that necessitates prioritization.
Some countries have standards for assessing and boosting resilience; however, many still overlook its
importance because of inadequate knowledge sharing. ISO documents on the seismic resilience of buildings
and civil engineering works play a critical role in raising awareness worldwide. The development of this
document assists in gathering information on assessment frameworks, metrics and guidelines for improving
seismic resilience.
The collated information includes the following:
— concept of seismic resilience and its development history; recent earthquake disasters have underscored
the need for seismic resilience, as evidenced in a typical case;
— assessment tools for seismic resilience levels; standards, codes and documents were collected from
various entities; these tools assess earthquake-related economic impacts, recovery times and casualties
by providing assessment methods, data, information-acquisition methods and indicators;
— strategies for enhancing seismic resilience; these were collected from investigative documents focusing
on constructing newly built resilient assets and retrofitting existing assets.
v
The compiled information serves as a valuable resource for stakeholders, guiding them in strategizing
to enhance the seismic resilience of built assets, thereby minimizing earthquake-induced damage. This
document can be useful for standard setters, policymakers, users, architects, engineers, and construction
and manufacturing sectors.
vi
Technical Report ISO/TR 18961:2025(en)
Buildings and civil engineering works — Seismic resilience
assessment and strategies — Compilation of relevant
information
1 Scope
This document provides an index of typical existing information on the concept, assessment and strategy for
seismic resilience of buildings and civil engineering works.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
4 Abbreviated terms
ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers
DS damage state
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency of the United States
GIS geographic information system
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, a ministry of the People's Republic of
MOHURD
China
National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States, Grant/Contractor Re-
NIST GCR
ports
NZSEE New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering
JSCE Japan Society of Civil Engineers
[17]
PACT Performance Assessment Calculation Tool provided in FEMA P-58
PGA peak ground acceleration
PGV peak ground velocity
SPUR San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association
5 Concept of seismic resilience
Seismic resilience includes the capacity to withstand, adapt to or promptly recover from earthquake
damage to preserve or restore the intended functionality. The concept of seismic resilience is derived from
the broader concept of resilience; and its developmental history is depicted in Figure 2.
[2-15]
Figure 2 — Development of the concept of seismic resilience
[16]
Seismic resilience was exemplified by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. On February 22, 2011, a strong
earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand. Although many built assets in the struck area were constructed
according to traditional seismic design for human safety, many minimally damaged assets were beyond
economic repair and were demolished, resulting in significant economic losses and downtime. By contrast, a
hospital located north of the area and built with a focus on seismic resilience endured the earthquake with
slight damage and swiftly resumed operations.
In drawing lessons from the Christchurch earthquake, the focus is on the following two pivotal elements:
a) evaluating the current seismic resilience of built assets;
b) developing strategies to enhance their seismic resilience.
...
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