Towards a risk governance framework for reducing the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings: a comparative analysis of national strategies with implications for Algeria

<jats:p>Abstract. Every major earthquake is a reminder that buildings do not collapse because of geology alone: they collapse because the societies in which they stand have not invested in making them safer. This study examines national governance frameworks for reducing the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings through a comparative analysis of six high-seismicity countries (Japan, New Zealand, California in the United States, Turkey, Italy, and Greece). Using a five-pillar analytical framework spanning regulatory, technical, financial, institutional, and cultural dimensions, we identify the mechanisms that distinguish effective governance from ineffective intent. Our central finding is that successful seismic risk reduction is never the product of a single policy instrument but emerges from the coherent alignment of five interdependent conditions: enforceable legislation specifically targeting the existing building stock, performance-based financial incentives capable of mobilising private capital, comprehensive national building-risk inventories, coordinated multi-level governance, and a deeply embedded societal risk culture. These findings are translated into a phased and operationally specific governance framework for Algeria, a country whose location on one of the Mediterranean basin's most active seismic belts, combined with a critically vulnerable pre-code building stock and a currently reactive policy architecture, makes the transition to proactive seismic risk governance both urgent and achievable.</jats:p>