Seismic Losses Scenario for Cultural Promenade in Timisoara Capital of Culture 2021, Romania

Abstract

Timisoara is a European city, located in the western part of Romania, in a seismic area, characterized by shallow earthquakes with most probable magnitude 6 Mw and intensity 7. Timisoara was selected to be the European Capital of Culture 2021, transforming the city into a centre of interest for cultural agenda. One of the major intentions of the city that was highlighted during the selection for the 2021 European Capital of Culture was to connect the visitors to the local community lifestyle, through a lot of outdoor events, where the participants will have to change to feel the real life on Timisoara’s streets and to interact with its citizens, especially in the historical urban areas, where the specific atmosphere was kept the most. In this context, there are expected many tourists to visit the city and many events are planned to occur in the historical zones. Along those historical zones, there was proposed a cultural promenade that will connect the most important touristic attractions of the city and the best places for outdoor cultural events. Taking into consideration the age of the buildings that will host events or that will be near the outdoor event spaces, appeared the problem of safety. In order to be able to secure the wellbeing of the visitors and Timisoara’s citizens and also the city’s most important buildings, there is mandatory to evaluate the current state of the buildings along the proposed cultural promenade and to determine the possible losses scenario in case of an earthquake occurrence. This paper presents seismic scenarios for different intensities and evaluates the possible losses in terms of human life, homes and jobs, architectural and historical values and of course economical losses. The knowledge represents the base of every action, so this study represents only the first part of a larger one that will propose interdisciplinary strategy for prevention and intervention in case of an earthquake occurrence.