Developing a retrofit scheme for Canada's Seismic Risk Model

The first published Canadian Seismic Risk Model, CanSRM1, is set for release this year. It considers the potential impact of seismicity on Canadian building stock and people, taking into account the current built environment. To understand the benefits of retrofit policies, policy makers need a base of evidence showing the difference in risk before and after retrofitting. Therefore, we plan to incorporate a simulated retrofit scenario into the national model, after consulting with practicing engineers and experts to better understand how such retrofits are likely to occur. This report presents the outcome of that consultation process, and recommendations for implementation into CanSRM1. It is apparent that only modest retrofits should be simulated for the majority of buildings, except those which are expected to serve a post-disaster function. Other building types are poorly suited for cost-effective retrofit, such as unreinforced masonry. These ideas are used to create a retrofit scenario across Canada, which can be used by policy makers to create targeted seismic risk reduction policies.