DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND REPAIR COSTS OF RESIDENTIAL AND SCHOOL BUILDINGS AFTER RECENT ITALIAN EARTHQUAKES

In the aftermath of the recent Italian earthquakes, in-situ surveys performed by skilled engineers allowed to collect and classify the earthquake damage to buildings and infrastructures. Furthermore, the monitoring of the reconstruction processes allowed collecting unique data on the actual cost related to the repair and retrofit of private and public buildings at regional scale. These data are of paramount importance for the calibration and validation of vulnerability and consequence functions useful for the development of reliable loss scenarios and risk maps. Although great advances were made in the development of fragility functions and consequence functions at system or component level for residential buildings, further research effort should focus on the post-earthquake response of school buildings. Indeed the differences in the structural systems, non-structural components, and contents features might significantly change the performance requirements and the expected losses. This study deals with the post-earthquake response of reinforced concrete buildings by using observational data. The damage and repair costs experienced by residential buildings due to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake are discussed at building and component level. Reliable consequence functions to be used in available loss-assessment procedures are proposed. The seismic response of school buildings is also investigated by using available data. The damage at building level is assessed and the seismic vulnerability of different building classes is discussed. The actual repair and retrofit costs are obtained from cost estimates approved in the reconstruction process. A comparison between the seismic performances of residential and school buildings is performed in terms of observed damage and repair/retrofit costs.