Latest Quick Response Report Gives a Glimpse of L’Aquila Vulnerability

The Natural Hazards Center is pleased to announce the release of its latest Quick Response Report, Vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Frame Buildings and their Occupants in the 2009 L’aquila, Italy Earthquake.

The report, by University of Colorado (CU) Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering researchers Abbie Liel and Kathryn Lynch, is the result of a field study following the April 6 L’Aquila, Italy, earthquake. The authors collected information on more than 450 reinforced concrete structures. By examining that information along with census and other social data, they found 38 percent ofL’Aquila residents living in reinforced concrete structures experienced moderate or heavy damage to their homes. The damage led to significant disruption of the community and social fabric, including the closure of government offices, churches, restaurants, and schools.

The fieldwork, funded by the Natural Hazards Center Quick Response Grant Program, will be the basis for a National Science Foundation RAPID research project on progress and priorities in L’Aquila’s recovery and reconstruction. The original research team will work with CU Engineering Professor Ross Corotis, CU Institute of Behavioral Science Research Associate Jeannette Sutton, and University of Chieti-Pescara Professors Guido Camata and Enrico Spacone to study decision making and recovery progress over the next nine months.

The Italian government’s new approach to disaster recovery—and probable resulting changes in decision making and organizations—makes the study particularly compelling. Interviews with reconstruction and building industry leaders, government officials, and community leaders are expected to wrap up in Spring 2010.

SEAOC Safety Assessment Program Comparisons with EU and Japan Programs

Tony Court and Fred Turner from the U.S. participated in an EU-funded safety assessment exercise in L’Aquila June 4-5. Representatives from Spain, Portugal, Germany, Romania, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, U.S. and Japan participated with Italians in the exercise. During that week, Italy’s Civil Protection Department was beginning to conduct AeDES safety assessment surveys of buildings inside the Red Zone, area of downtown L’Aquila that the Mayor had decided to restrict public access until such time that the falling hazards exposed on the narrow streets could be cleared. By that week, they had practically completed safety assessments elsewhere in regions impacted by the earthquake that were outside of the Red Zone. Exercise participants were attached to Italian safety assessment teams that had appointments with building owners in the Red Zone. We participated in the safety and damage assessments,  filling out AeDES forms, EU-STEP forms, SAP-ATC 20 forms, and SEAOC-EPEP (Earthquake Performance Evaluation Program) forms for later comparisons as part of an EU-funded project called Strategies and Tools for Earthquake Post-Earthquake Assessment. Others participating in the exercise filled out and compared procedures and forms used in Japan and Greece.

Italy’s AeDES assessment process is considerably more detailed and nuanced compared to the CalEMA SAP-ATC 20 process. Italy uses engineers to collect additional information about the nature of the building systems, the damage and its extent to help compile aggregate loss estimates on groups of the buildings that have been assessed. Italy does not post placards since laws prohibit that activity. Italy also does not provide immunity from liability for safety and damage assessments. In contrast, SAP-ATC 20 is limited to safety assessments and is not intended to estimate aggregate losses or the extent and variation of losses within portions of buildings. SAP ATC 20 is also largely conducted by non-engineer inspectors averaging 26 building assessments per team-day (20 to 25 minutes per building) supplemented by teams of engineers for follow-up evaluations or for the larger, engineered buildings. Italy’s assessments are averaging 20 to 30 minutes per building for the entire event and 7 assessments per team-day in the Red Zone due to extenuating circumstances. A chart comparing the different assessment processes is under development and will provide basic information about Japan’s and Greece’s practices as well as a new form under development by STEP.

Fred’s images are captioned and geotagged at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/FredTurnerSE/LAquilaItalyFredTurnerSImages200906?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLQrOLCrvrT2AE#

A detailed map of the Red Zone:

map-red-zone-laquila-fmt-6-4-09

Onna vs. Monticchio

Today we visited a number of small villages south-east of l’Aquila, including Onna and Monticchio. Read more

EERI/PEER team visits San Salvatore hospital

This is a somewhat belated post: On Saturday the 18th the EERI/PEER team visited the regional hospital serving the city of L’Aquila. Read more

Observations on RC construction from EERI Team

The large majority of reinforced concrete buildings in the epicentral area fared well if we consider that they were subjected to a ground motion equal or larger than those they were designed for. In the last 25 years L’Aquila and its province were considered to be in the Class 2 seismic area of the building code and these buildings were designed for a horizontal acceleration of 0.25g. In the epicentral area maximum accelerations up to 0.67g were measured although a recording station went off scale at 1g (see discussion below). Read more

Observations from EERI/PEER Team

From EERI/PEER Team: Masonry Damage Read more

Virtual Disaster Viewer for L’Aquila Earthquake

The website allows users to view recent photos taken over pre and post event satellite imagery.  The map viewer also allows you to view oblique “bird’s eye” views of pre event fly over imagery.  To view recent photographs of damage, be sure to place a checkmark into the “Show Photos” box.   You will then see pin points show up in the map which you can click to view the photos.

The website is located at:  http://virtualdisasterviewer.com/vdv/index.php?selectedEventId=2 Read more

Observations from Degenkolb Engineers – Building Performance in L’Aquila

The structures located outside of the historic core in L’Aquila are typically constructed of  unreinforced masonry or buildings with a reinforced concrete frame(beams/columns) with hollow clay tile infill partitions.  From our observations of the reinforced concrete frame structures, we have frequently seen little damage to the concrete frames. There are occurrences of hollow clay tile that has undergone a shear mechanism or experienced out-of-plane failure due to lack of anchors at the top/bottom of the walls. Read more

Observations from Degenkolb Engineers

We looked at a group of 3 and 4 story apartment buildings in L’Aquila, 2 of which collapsed at the first floor.  There were 6 or 7 of the same construction, vintage and plan but only the 2 reached the point of collapse.  See photos below of this dramatic failure. (Photos by Holly Razzano) Read more

Damage photos from Onna

Damage photos from the heavily affected village of Onna.

Provided by Professor E. Lekkas, University of Athens. Read more

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