Abstract: Estimation of earthquake losses is based on the damage degree of buildings in a region. Earthquake damage index is a number between 0 and 1 which shows the damage degree in a mathematical variant. It expresses the earthquake resistant ability of the buildings. Research of damage index is of significance in the earthquake damage prediction before earthquake and the estimation of earthquake losses after the earthquake. In this paper, the authors collected, analyzed and processed the detailed materials of the estimation of earthquake losses which occurred between 2001 and 2004. Based on this, the authors then calculated the Mean Damage Index of each type of buildings at every investigation point. The relationship between the mean damage index of each type of buildings and the mean damage index of brick buildings was obtained, which may be helpful for the estimation of earthquake losses on field and after the earthquake.

Key words: Damage index, Earthquake intensity, Loss assessment