Post-Earthquake Rehabilitation of Healthcare Buildings: The Case Study of the Mirandola Hospital

Abstract

Recent earthquakes in Italy and other countries have shown the fragility of hospital complexes which resulted in many cases unusable due to structural and non-structural damage. Depending on the extent of damage, unusable hospitals were reopened after some weeks/months, or affected by long rehabilitation intervention or demolished. In order to allow for a prompt resumption of the social activities of the local communities, the usability evaluation carried out in the immediate aftermath of a seismic event is a crucial step to address the short-term countermeasures and to obtain a gross estimate of the economic losses. After the first weeks, it is often necessary a more detailed assessment which allows for a more accurate evaluation of damage and, more importantly, about the reparability of the structure along with the study of feasible intervention strategies. This latter activity needs detailed analyses based on increased knowledge of the structure. Keeping in mind the objectives of detailed postearthquake assessment and reparability evaluations, the Santa Maria Bianca hospital of Mirandola, damaged by the Emilia 2012 earthquake, has been analyzed as a case study. Analyses were devoted to defining an upgrading strategy to match the code serviceability limit states (damage limitation and occupancy). The selected strategy included solutions to carry out most of the work from outside, to limit the downtime of the building as well as reconstruction of demolished non-structural elements. Further analyses were made in order to check the effects of the upgrading strategy under the seismic actions recorded during the 2012 Emilia earthquake. These analyses highlighted that even the upgraded hospital building could not be able to remain operational after a new seismic event having the same intensity as the 2012 event, underlining the need of more stringent design criteria for strategic structures like hospitals that are requested to provide healthcare services even more when strong earthquakes occur.