## 1 Introduction  
In seismic disturbances scenarios, the substandard performance of Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames has always been a crucial concern. Moreover, the massive occupancy of high-rise RC structures in urban areas and the migration of working professionals into metropolitan cities due to high-income propensity simply add to the residents' and owners' responsibilities and risks. It is imperative to identify the seismic deficiency in the structures and prioritize them for seismic strengthening. Application of rigorous structural analysis methods for studying the seismic behavior of buildings is impractical in terms of computing time and cost, dealing with a large building stock, a quick assessment, and a reliable method to adapt corrective retrofitting methods for deficient structures. RVS is more widely known for fundamental computations; a rapid and reliable method used to assess seismic vulnerability. RVS was developed initially by the Applied Technology Council in the 1980s (U.S.A.) to benefit a broad audience, including building officials, structural engineering consultants, inspectors, and property owners. This method was designed to serve as the preliminary screening phase in a multi-step process of a detailed seismic vulnerability assessment. The procedure is classified typically as a three-stage process, wherein the first phase consists of performing a rapid visual screening process. The structures which fail to satisfy the cutoff scores in the first step shall be subjected to a stage two and three detailed seismic structural analysis performed by a seismic design professional. The process of RVS was developed based on a walk-down survey for physical assessment of the buildings from the exterior, and, if possible, from the interior for identifying the primary structural load resisting system. A trained evaluator performs the walk-down survey for recording the predefined parameters from the structures. The survey outcome grades the buildings based on basic computations and compares them to a predefined cut-off score. If the building has scored more than the cut-off score, it can be termed seismically resistant and safe. On the contrary, the structure shall be subjected to detailed investigation. Therefore, we can recognize now the need for research contributions in the RVS procedure to make it as easy and as reliable as possible.  
RVS has been adopted widely in various countries globally, especially in the United States, with several guidelines from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for seismic vulnerability and rehabilitation of structures. The first edition was published in 1989 with revisions in 1992, 1998, and 2002 (FEMA 154) [1]. The RVS procedure has been modified by many researchers, such as the application of fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks (ANN). Trained fuzzy logic application in RVS shows a marked improvement in the performance of the standard procedure [2]. Furthermore, the logarithmic relationship between the final obtained scores and the probability of collapse at the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) makes the results difficult. [PERSON] et al. [3] proposed a non-logarithmic approach after identifying this limitation, especially from the perspective of project managers and decision-makers, who shall be able to interpret the results readily. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [4] have developed an augmented approach to RVS called E-EVS by using the RVS scores for the initial prioritization of public educational buildings in Oregon, USA. However, the RVS method has been developed and used in different countries like Turkey, Greece, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and India with local parametric variations depending on the construction method, structural materials used, the structural design philosophies, and the seismic hazard zones [5].