Earthquake vulnerability and seismic risk assessment of urban areas in high seismic regions: application to Chania City, Crete Island, Greece

The earthquake vulnerability and the seismic risk assessment for the urban center of Chania in the island of Crete is approached through the development of a GIS-based application that takes into consideration the structural and geological domain of the region. Considering a localized model, the various structural and geomorphologic attributes of the region were assigned specific weights of significance that allowed the creation of a modular application that was tested for the city of Chania, and it was verified based on the recent seismic activity of the area. The proposed risk map and model can become a significant tool for confronting crises resulting from future earthquake incidences.