Observational loss database of typological precast RC buildings damaged after the 2012 Emilia Earthquake

Abstract

The Emilia Earthquake occurred in 2012 in a highly industrialized area, characterized by the presence of about one firm every 9 inhabitants. The industrial heart of the region hosts many important clusters, from the Motor Valley to Food, Wellbeing, Fashion and Health devices. The main activities are conducted in production districts with several different long-span buildings like storages, deposits, warehouses, factories and silos. Among these, those made of precast reinforced-concrete (RC) elements were heavily damaged by the seismic sequence, resulting in a huge amount of economic losses due to damage to structures, products and machineries, business interruption and casualties. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Region defined the criteria for the request of funds for the reconstruction of the buildings, the restoration of the products, the reparation of the equipment, and the temporary relocation of the activities. Thus, a large number of documents was collected reporting a variety of information concerning the seismic damage, the structural properties of the buildings, and the economic costs.In this work, through a process of progressive selection and refinement of the data, a database of seismic economic losses of damaged precast RC buildings was created. The main principles for the creation of the repository and the categorization of the information are illustrated. Hence, the losses were statistically analysed to derive useful consequence functions based on the investigation of diversified trends of the repair costs at different damage levels. The outcomes presented in this study may be adopted to perform loss assessment evaluations to guide the decision-makers in establishing priorities of structural interventions to reduce the consequences of future earthquakes in industrial areas.