Estimating seismic losses of schools using SELENA: The case of Wenchuan earthquake

Estimation of the seismic risk of schools in developing countries is an important but challenging task. In this paper, we report an attempt to estimate the damage and losses of primary schools during the Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake that ruptured on 12 May 2008 using SELENA (SEismic Loss EstimatioN from a logic tree Approach). In this study, the seismic hazard was assessed with the probabilistic analysis procedures available in SELENA. The capacity spectrum method (CSM) was applied to determine the vulnerability function, which is a basic input for estimating building damages and losses. The HAZUS methodology was used for estimating human losses. This paper reports preliminary results about the seismic risk of primary schools in some affected areas of the Wenchuan earthquake. In addition, it presents some findings about the usefulness of SELENA for estimating damages and losses of schools using data from a developing country like China.