Notes on Damage Levels
“We differentiated them into four classes: not damaged, slightly damaged, moderately damaged, and heavily damaged. The “negligible to slight damage” (grade 1) and “moderate damage” (grade 2) classification of EMS98 were named as “slightly damaged” and “moderately damaged,” respectively. The “substantial to heavy damage” (grade 3) and “very heavy damage” (grade 4) classes were grouped as one: “heavily damaged.” The “destruction” (grade 5) classification was termed “completely damaged,” but we did not find instances of completely collapsed structures during the survey.”