Assessing the Impact of Seismic Risk Mitigation at the Urban Scale on Community Resilience and Housing Recovery

Abstract

European historical city centers are particularly prone to natural disasters. This is due to the fragility of structures that often times do not comply with seismic codes; the high constructions’ density that causes induced damage; and the historical relevance of buildings that makes difficult the enacting of mitigation strategies. In Italy, major earthquake caused extensive damages over the last century. Seismic events have a huge impact on the nation’s economy growth due to direct and indirect impacts, such as for example the high reconstruction costs or the business interruption spread out over a long period, respectively. In addition, the duration of recovery can affect the population wellbeing and cause permanent displacement. For this reason, the preventive planning of disaster management strategies are crucial to mitigate the damage and enhance resilience. Proposed strategies have to be effective and economically sustainable. In this paper, two towns affected by the 2012 Northern Italy Earthquake are chosen to analyze the reconstruction process. Using information published on the town journal, relevant aspects of the community resilience are highlighted. In particular, the housing recovery, i.e. the return of displaced people to a permanent housing solution is investigated. Then, a suite of seismic mitigation strategies is proposed for both cities, taking into account the peculiarity of the built environment and the damage distribution available thanks to the post- event buildings’ inspection. The effectiveness of the proposed strategies is assessed through a cost-benefit analysis, highlighting optimal solutions to reduce the economic and social losses.

Full document

References

[1] CRED. Natural disasters 2018. An opportunity to prepare. Available at: https://www.cred.be/sites/default/files/CREDNaturalDisaster2018.pdf (2019).

[2] PreventionWeb. Europe - Disaster Statistics. Region Profile for Natural Disasters from 1980 – 2008. Available at: https://www.preventionweb.net/english/countries/statistics/ind ex_region.php?rid=3 (2008).

[3] Alexander, D. and Magni, M. Mortality in the L’Aquila (central Italy) earthquake of 6 April 2009. PLoS Curr (2013) 5:e50585b8e6efd1.

[4] Mucciarelli, M., and Liberatore, D. Guest editorial: the Emilia 2012 earthquakes, Italy. Bull Earthq Eng (2014) 12:2111-2116.

[5] Fiorentino, G., Forte, A., Pagano, E., Sabetta, F., Baggio, C., Lavorato, D., Nuti, C. and Santini S. Damage patterns in the town of Amatrice after August 24th 2016 Central Italy earthquakes. Bull Earthq Eng (2018) 16:1399-1423.

[6] Briseghella, B., Demartino, C., Fiore, A., Nuti, C., Sulpizio, C., Vanzi, I., Lavorato, D. and Fiorentino, G. Preliminary data and field observations of the 21st August 2017 Ischia earthquake. Bull Earth Eng (2019) 17:1221–1256.

[7] Bellicoso, A. Italian Anti-Seismic Legislation and Building Restoration. Int Journal for Housing Science (2011) 35: 137-147.

[8] Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti. Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni. Gazzetta Ufficiale (2008) 29. Italian.

[9] Istat. Edifici residenziali. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (2011). Available at: https://www.istat.it/. Italian.

[10] Di Giacomo, M. I costi dei terremoti in Italia. Centro Studi Consiglio Nazionale Ingegneri (2014). Italian.

[11] Ufficio Valutazione Impatto. Terremoti. L'Aquila, Reggio-Emilia, Centro Italia: politiche e risorse per ricostruire il Paese. Senato della Repubblica (2017). Italian.

[12] Rose, A. Defining and measuring economic resilience to disasters. Disaster Prevention and Management (2004) 13: 307-314.

[13] Peacock, W.G., Dash, N., Zhang, Y. and Van Zandt, S. Post-Disaster Sheltering, Temporary Housing and Permanent Housing Recovery. In: H. Rodríguez et al. (Eds): Handbook of Disaster Research. Springer, Cham (2018), pp. 569-594.

[14] Giuliani, A.R., Mattei, A., Santilli, F. Well-Being and Perceived Quality of Life in Elderly People Displaced After the Earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy. J Community Health (2014) 39: 531–537.

[15] Di Giovanni, G. and Chelleri, L. Why and how to build back better in shrinking territories? Disaster Prevention and Management (2019) 28: 460-473.

[16] Agenzia delle Entrate. Sisma Bonus: Le Detrazioni Per Gli Interventi Antisismici. Available at: https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it/ (2019). Italian.

[17] Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti. Linee Guida Per La Classificazione Del Rischio Sismico Delle Costruzioni. Decreto Ministeriale (2017) 65. Italian.

[18] Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti. Aggiornamento delle «Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni». Gazzetta Ufficiale (2018) 42. Italian

[19] Rossetto, T., Alexander, D., Verrucci, E., Ioannou, I., Borg, R., Melo, J., Cahill, B. and Kongar, I. The 20th May 2012 Emilia Romagna earthquake (2012) EPICentre Field observation report.

[20] Ioannou, I., Borg, R., Novelli, V., Melo, J., Alexander, D., Kongar, I., Verrucci, E., Cahill, B. and Rossetto, T. The 29th May 2012 Emilia Romagna earthquake (2012) EPICentre Field observation report.

[21] Mannella, A., Di Ludovico, M., Sabino, A., Prota, A., Dolce, M. and Manfredi, G. Analysis of the population assistance and returning home in the reconstruction process of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. Sustainability (2017) 9: 1395.

[22] Carnelli, F. and Frigerio, I. A socio-spatial vulnerability assessment for disaster management: Insights from the 2012 Emilia earthquake (Italy). Sociologia urbana e rurale (2016) 11: 22-44.

[23] Municipality of Concordia sulla Secchia. Concordia Comune. Available at: https://www.comune.concordia.mo.it/. Italian.

[24] Municipality of Mirandola. Indicatore Mirandolese. Available at: http://www.comune.mirandola.mo.it/. Italian.

[25] Bruneau, M., Chang, S.E., Eguchi, R.T., Lee, G.C. et al. A framework to quantitatively assess and enhance the seismic resilience of communities. Earthquake spectra (2003) 19: 733-752.

[26] Battista C. Ricostruzione, ecco quanto costano i moduli abitativi provvisori. ModenaToday (2013). Available at: http://www.modenatoday.it/. Italian.

[27] Regione Emilia-Romagna. Open Ricostruzione. Monitora gli interventi per la ricostruzione in Emilia-Romagna. Available at: https://openricostruzione.regione.emilia-romagna.it/.

[28] Grünthal, G. European Macroseismic Scale 1998. Cahiers du Centre Européen de Géodynamique et de Séismologie (1998) 15.

[29] Modena, C., Valluzzi, M.R., da Porto, F. and Casarin, F. Structural Aspects of The Conservation of Historic Masonry Constructions in Seismic Areas: Remedial Measures and Emergency Actions. Int Jour of Architectural Heritage (2001) 5: 539-558.

[30] Biondini, F., Camnasio, E. and Titi, A. Seismic resilience of concrete structures under corrosion. Earthquake Engng Struct Dyn (2015) 44: 2445-2466.

[31] Frumento, S., Giovinazzi, S., Lagomarsino, S. and Podestà, S. Seismic retrofitting of unreinforced masonry buildings in Italy. In: Proceedings of the 2006 NZSEE Conference (2006), Napier, New Zealand.

[32] Perrone, M., Barros, J.A. and Aprile, A. CFRP-based strengthening technique to increase the flexural and energy dissipation capacities of RC columns. Journal of composites for construction (2009) 13: 372-383.

[33] Breveglieri, M., Barros, J.A., Aprile, A. and Ventura-Gouveia, A. Strategies for numerical modeling the behavior of RC beams strengthened in shear using the ETS technique. Engineering Structures (2016) 128:296-315.

[34] Breveglieri, M., Aprile, A. and Barros, J.A. RC beams strengthened in shear using the Embedded Through-Section technique: Experimental results and analytical formulation. Composites Part B: Engineering (2016) 89: 266-281.

[35] Gulinelli, P., Aprile, A., Rizzoni, R., et al. A Fe Model for TRM Reinforced Masonry Walls with Interface Effects. In Key Engineering Materials (2019) 817: 57-64.

[36] Zerbin, M. and Aprile, A. Sustainable retrofit design of RC frames evaluated for different seismic demand. Earthq. Struct (2015) 9: 1337-1353.

[37] Dolce, M., Speranza, E., Giordano, F., Borzi, B., Bocchi, F., Conte, C., Di Meo, A., Faravelli, M. and Pascale, V. Observed damage database of past Italian earthquakes: the Da. DO WebGIS. Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata (2019) 60: 141-164.

[38] De Martino, G., Di Ludovico, M., Prota, A., Moroni, C., Manfredi, G. and Dolce, M. Estimation of repair costs for RC and masonry residential buildings based on damage data collected by post-earthquake visual inspection. Bull Earthq Eng (2017) 15: 1681–1706.

[39] Il Presidente della Repubblica. Decreto legge 6 giugno 2012, n. 74: interventi urgenti per le popolazioni colpite dagli eventi sismici nelle province di Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Mantova, Reggio Emilia e Rovigo il 20 e il 29 maggio 2012. Gazzetta Ufficiale (2012) 131. Italian.

[40] Zuccaro, G. and Cacace, F. Seismic casualty evaluation: The Italian model, an application to the L’Aquila 2009 event. In: R. Spence et al. (Eds): Human casualties in earthquakes. Springer, Dordrecht (2011), pp. 171-184.

[41] Basaglia, A., Aprile, A., Spacone E. and Pilla F. Performance-based Seismic Risk Assessment of Urban Systems. International Journal of Architectural Heritage (2018) 12: 1131-1149.