engleski

March 22, 2020 Zagreb, Croatia earthquake

In the early Sunday morning of March 22, 2020, amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, a ML5.5 earthquake struck Zagreb, the capital of Republic of Croatia, and its surroundings. The epicenter was within the city, less than 10 km from the historic center and at shallow depth of 8 km. A ML5.0 aftershock occurred 40 minutes after the main event, followed by a long-term seismic activity. These events caused a loss of one life, 26 injured and surprisingly (with regard to relatively moderate event) extensive damage to many buildings, including key infrastructural buildings, such as hospitals, schools and the Parliament. Many cultural heritage buildings of utmost importance were also damaged, e.g. the Zagreb cathedral (the largest sacral building in Croatia), which in the end lost both of its spires. About two third of all residential units in Zagreb were built before 1964, when the first seismic code was introduced in the region. The majority of buildings built later did not suffer any apparent damage during the earthquake, except some family houses in the epicentral region which were constructed or reconstructed illegally (not according to the code). However, the residential building stock comprising unreinforced masonry buildings, dating back to the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, sustained significant damage. Many chimneys and other unrestrained elements collapsed, many gable walls overturned, and also load-bearing walls of some buildings were severely damaged. The organization of the system for usability assessments of buildings was very challenging as it had to be initiated from scratches amidst the pandemics with no outside help. Competent precautionary measures were undertaken to preserve public safety, but heeding state regulations to limit the spread of the epidemics. This paper describes typical observed damage to buildings, as well as the context of the earthquake which, striking the capital in which almost a third of the country’s GDP is generated, seriously affected the national economy and society in general. The economic losses are currently estimated at more than 10 billion euros, imposing heavy burden on authorities, but also on the local community. The conclusions drawn may be very important for the entire region and other areas with similar seismotectonic conditions and building stock.

masonry buildings ; damage ; historic center ; post-earthquake building inspections ; COVID-19 pandemics

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