  We analyze damage nucleation and localization in the random fuse model with
strong disorder using numerical simulations. In the initial stages of the
fracture process, damage evolves in an uncorrelated manner, resembling
percolation. Subsequently, as the damage starts to accumulate, current
enhancement at the tips of the microcracks leads eventually to catastrophic
failure. We study this behavior quantifying the deviations from percolation and
discussing alternative scaling laws for damage. The analysis of damage profiles
confirms that localization occurs abruptly starting from an uniform damage
landscape. Finally, we show that the cumulative damage distribution follows the
normal distribution, suggesting that damage is uncorrelated on large length
scales.
