This study sets out a methodology for estimating a city's potential seismic risk. This methodology, which considers all phases of an earthquake disaster, is based on regional characteristics that are derived from macro-information such as topography, climate, location of active faults, regional building types and their seismic capacity, experience of past earthquake disasters, inter-city traffic systems, and accessibility from neighboring cities, as well as from the micro-information presently used in current methodologies such as soil and building conditions, open areas, fire-resistant buildings, and building-to-land ratios. This methodology was applied to typical cities in Japan. The degree to which this methodology was able to accurately assess the potential seismic risk and earthquake disaster patterns for these cities are also discussed herein.