Abstract
This study develops a nationwide seismic risk model for masonry houses in Malawi by focusing on the collapse limit state. The new seismic risk model reflects the latest seismic hazard characterization of active faults in the southern segment of the East African Rift system and country-specific collapse fragility functions that are derived based on local building surveys, experimental tests of local construction materials, and plausible failure mechanisms of the main structural elements of the Malawian houses. Overall, the new quantitative seismic risk model significantly improves existing seismic risk assessment tools without countryspecific hazard-exposure-vulnerability models. The collapse risk curves are evaluated on a national scale by utilizing the advantage brought by the upper tail approximation method of site-specific seismic hazard curves. The results are useful for emergency managers and policymakers for nationwide seismic risk management purposes.