Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana

Volumen 69, núm. 1, 2017, p. 223 ‒ 241
http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2017v69n1a11

Evaluación de la vulnerabilidad de edificaciones ante la génesis de lahares: Caso de estudio en la población de Santiago Xalitzintla, en el flanco NE del volcán Popocatépetl (México)

Diana Elizabeth Moriano Tello1,*, Paola Andrea Paredes Ruiz1, Gustavo Córdoba Guerrero1, Hugo Delgado Granados2

1 Grupo de investigación en riesgos, amenazas y medio ambiente GRAMA, Universidad de Nariño, Ciudad Universitaria, Torobajo, Pasto, Colombia.

2 Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM, Circuito de la Investigación Científica S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán, Ciudad de México.

*This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Abstract

Structural vulnerability from dynamic pressures due to the impact of lahars is analyzed in the town of Santiago Xalitzintla (Mexico). The process of vulnerability assessment was conducted independently from the hazard (lahar). For this end, every building was classified. The typification was developed taking into account the materials used in the construction of buildings, and how they contribute to its strength in two ways. a) Based on field work, by visiting the place in order to identify typologies and possible critical areas. b) By using the Google Earth´s Street View tool as a complement, since it was not possible to identify all the structures in the visit due to several limiting factors in the direct recognition.

The vulnerability was carried out in a semi-quantitative way, based on several researches which were used to elaborate a structural vulnerability map for total damage. We identified that 62 % of the edifications have low vulnerability, 16 % have medium vulnerability and the remaining 12 % have high vulnerability. However, there were some buildings that could not be identified (around 10 % of total) and were labeled as “no data”.

By using total destruction probability curves, potential situations were made for Santiago Xalitzintla. From these curves, it is clear that the total destruction probability of the structures according to their type, changes depending of their dynamic pressures, whereby it is possible to evaluate different vulnerability scenarios on the locality.

Keywords: Structural vulnerability, Probability of total destruction, Dynamic pressure, Lahar, Popocatépetl volcano, Santiago Xalitzintla.