Predicting Business Financial Losses in the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge Earthquakes: Implications for Loss Estimation Research

Date
1999
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Disaster Research Center
Abstract
Description
Spurred in part by the rising economic costs of natural disasters, there has recently been a dramatic increase in the number of studies aimed at estimating financial losses caused by large-scale earthquakes. For example, in 1997 the journal Earthquake Spectra devoted an entire issue to this topic. Papers appearing in the special issue ranged from cost-benefit analyses of structural rehabilitation strategies (D'Ayala et al., 1997) to the development of real-time damage assessment tools Pguchi et al. 1997). In 1998 the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research published a monograph addressing the engineering and socioeconomic impacts of earthquakes (Shinozuka, Rose, and Eguchi, 1998). A primary focus of the report was on the regional economic impacts of earthquake-induced electricity lifeline disruptions. More recently, in 1999 the National Research Council Committee on Assessing the Costs of Natural Disasters published a report outlining a framework for loss estimation (National Research Council, 1999). The Committee's primary goals were to develop a framework for consistent and systematic collection of loss data from natural disasters and to build an institutional capacity for collecting such data.
Keywords
Northridge earthquake, financial loss, earthquake, natural disaster
Citation