Early Damage Estimation of Water Pipeline Systems for Earthquake Emergency Response

Early Damage Estimation of Water Pipeline Systems for Earthquake Emergency Response

The technology of early seismic loss estimation(ESLE) can release the information of likely damage and casualty immediately after earthquake occurrence. Such information could help enhance the emergency response significantly. The aim of this study is to introduce ESLE technology to water pipeline systems in Taiwan. The models of seismic repair rates for various pipes and the corresponding repair costs(man-hours and monetary losses) were employed. Under any earthquake scenario, the statistics and spatial distribution of pipe damages and repair costs could be estimated through seismic scenario simulation. A prototype of ESLE module consisting of a customized executable and a seismic scenario database consisting of pipe damages and losses of a water system could be developed. It can be triggered automatically by an earthquake e-mail report released by the Central Weather Bureau and provide the estimation results within seconds. The water pipeline system in Yi-lan, Taiwan has been performed for ESLE implementation.