Seismic Performance of Industrial Sheds and Liquefaction Effects During May 2012 Emilia Earthquakes Sequence in Northern Italy

Abstract

On May 20, 2012 at 2:03 UTC, a Mw 6.1 earthquake occurred in Emilia Region of Northern Italy. The event was preceded by a Ml 4.1 foreshock on May 19, 2012 at 23:13 UTC, and followed by several aftershocks, twenty of them with a magnitude Mw greater than 4. The epicentral area of the seismic sequence covers alluvial lowland that is occupied by both agricultural and urbanized areas. Liquefaction effects were observed in several villages on the west side of Ferrara which were built upon former river beds such as the Reno River. The Emilia seismic sequence resulted in 27 casualties, several of whom were among the workers in the factories that collapsed during working hours, and there was extensive damage to monuments, public buildings, industrial sites and private homes. Almost no municipalities hit by 2012 earthquake were classified as seismic area before 2003; therefore, most of the existing structures had been designed without taking in account the seismic actions. The main aims of MCEER field mission was to document the emergency response and the most common damage mechanisms of industrial sheds during Emilia earthquake sequence which are shown and discussed in detail.

Liquefaction susceptibility assessment in fluvial plains using airborne lidar: the case of the 2012 Emilia earthquake sequence area (Italy)

“…The overall damage to residential buildings was minor, but damage was particularly evident for old and poorly maintained masonry structures. On the other hand, significant damage to industrial facilities was observed (Cimellaro et al, 2014).…”

Late Quaternary environmental evolution of the Como urban area (Northern Italy): A multidisciplinary tool for risk management and urban planning

“…The risk posed by geological hazards seems to be poorly understood, even in the highly industrialized and populated Northern Italy, as illustrated for instance by the "expected" extensive damage to modern industrial buildings during the May-June 2012 seismic sequence in the Po Plain (e.g., Dolce and Di Bucci, 2014;Cimellaro et al, 2014;Michetti et al, 2012), resulting in losses totaling over 13 billion euros (Daniell and Vervaeck, 2012).…”

Toward Models of Impact and Recovery of the US Western Grid from Earthquake Events

“…IEEE Standard 693 focuses purely on requirements and certification of seismic hazard compliant substation equipment [16]. Additionally, there are numerous reconnaissance reports on earthquake impacts to electricity systems, particularly through databases such as the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) at the University of Buffalo [6,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Much of this work focuses on the impact to an individual component of a substation or aggregates expected component damage to estimate damage to a substation.…”