Description
The identification of adequate evaluation methodologies of earthquake damages to Cultural Heritage is a highly topical subject, considering the frequency and intensity of the seismic phenomenon, in recent times, in Italy. The subject is related to the broader theme of the attribution of a “monetized” economic value to the cultural assets, widely investigated in the appraisal and evaluation Italian disciplines. In this perspective, the article aims to verify the principles and evaluation methods for the monetary assessment of the damages caused by earthquake disasters. Starting from the definition of cultural assets as in the Italian legislative system, the article highlights the characteristics and several values of cultural assets; it then defines, in a systematic way, the damage and its differentiation, subsequently discussing the main damage evaluation approaches.
Vulnerability is a big issue for small inland urban centres, which are exposed to the risk of depopulation, as well as for metropolitan areas particularly exposed to seismic disasters. In the context of recent concentration of a high number of earthquakes in Neapolitan metropolitan area, seismic vulnerability's valuation become a crucial issue. In some Italian regions, municipalities are implementing seismic vulnerability reduction policies based on the Emergency Limit Condition, which has become a basic point of reference for ordinary land planning.
This study proposes an approach to seismic vulnerability reduction consisting of three main stages: 1) knowledge — the typological, constructive, and technological descriptions of the buildings, specifically concerning their degree of vulnerability; 2) interpretation — analysis with the aim of outlining a range of hypotheses with respect to damage in case of a prospective earthquake; 3) planning — the identification of the courses of action intended to meaningfully reduce the vulnerability of buildings. This last stage includes a cost modelling tool aimed at defining the trade-off between the extension and the intensity of the vulnerability reduction works, given the budget.
