Search

The study reported in this paper concerns the temporal variation in the b-value of the Gutenberg–Richter frequency–magnitude law, applied to the earthquakes that struck Italy from 2009 to 2016 in the geographical areas of L'Aquila, the Emilia Region, and Amatrice–Norcia. Generally, the b-value varies from one region to another dependent on earthquake incidences. Higher values of this parameter are correlated to the occurrence of low-magnitude events spread over a wide geographical area. Conversely, a lower b-value may lead to the prediction of a major earthquake localized along a fault. In addition, it is observed that each seismic event has a different "occurrence time", which is a key point in the statistical study of earthquakes. In particular, its results are absolutely different for each specific event, and may vary from years to months or even just a few hours. Hence, both short- and long-term precursor phenomena have to be examined. Accordingly, the b-value analysis has to be performed by choosing the best time windows to study the foreshock and aftershock activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) represents a very powerful tool to assess the health condition of buildings. In recent years, the growing availability of high-resolution SAR satellite images has made possible the application of multi-temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) techniques for structural monitoring purposes, with high precision, low costs, timesaving, and the possibility to investigate wide areas. However, a comprehensive validation of the effectiveness of MT-InSAR in this application field has not been achieved yet. For this reason, in this paper a comparison between interferometric data and on-site measurement of displacements is proposed. The application case study is the Civic Tower of the city of L'Aquila (Abruzzo Region, Italy). After the seismic events that affected the area in 2009, an on-site monitoring system was installed on the tower to detect any changes in the damage pattern in the period 2010–2013. Furthermore, images acquired by COSMO-SkyMed constellation in Stripmap mode (~3 m resolution) during the same period were processed by the Permanent Scatterer-InSAR (PSI) technique to estimate the deformation of the structure and the surrounding area. The obtained results indicate that both methods are consistent in the measurement of displacement trends of the building and a slight rotation/displacement of the tower was detected. Such evidence highlights both the huge potential and the limitations of using InSAR techniques for SHM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, quality of life, and family functioning in a sample of the general female population, exploring difficulties encountered in managing family and work responsibilities and burden of care when taking care of a loved one. This study was, moreover, aimed at investigating factors capable of influencing severe depressive symptomatology in the context of socio-demographics, traumatic events, individual vulnerability, and family functioning. Method: The sampling method used in this research was non-probability sampling. The survey took place during a Hospital Open Weekend (8–10 October 2021) organized by the National Gender Observatory on Women's Health "Fondazione Onda" on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day. Results: A total of 211 women were interviewed (mean age = 35.6, 53% living alone, more than 15% with financial difficulties, 47% exposed to the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake). More than 50% of the sample reported a higher complexity in managing their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to their previous routine, with no statistically significant differences between working women and non-workers, although the latter obtained higher scores for depressive symptomatology and poorer quality of life. Compared to non-caregivers, female caregivers (22.3%) in charge of the care of loved ones affected by physical (10.9%) or psychiatric disabilities (11.4%) complained of a poorer quality of life, especially in general health perception (p = 0.002), physical function (p = 0.011), role limitations related to physical problems (p = 0.017), bodily pain (p = 0.015), mental health (p = 0.004), and social functioning (p = 0.007). Women caring for people affected by mental disorders seemed to experience a more significant worsening in vitality (p = 0.003) and social functioning (p = 0.005). Approximately 20% of the total sample reported severe depressive symptomatology. Previous access to mental health services (O.R. 10.923; p = 0.000), a low level of education (O.R. 5.410; p = 0.021), and difficulties in management of everyday lives during the COVID-19 pandemic (O.R. 3.598; p = 0.045) were found to be the main variables predictive of severe depressive psychopathology. Old age, good problem-solving skills, and ability to pursue personal goals were identified as protective factors. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic underlined the need for support amongst emotionally vulnerable women with pre-existing mental health conditions, partly reflecting the cumulative effects of traumas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent seismic events in Italy, including the earthquakes in L'Aquila in 2009 and central Italy in 2016, have significantly impacted the historical centers of small and medium-sized cities. These events directly affected their ancient masonry building heritage, resulting in severe damage. In order to minimize the risk of collapses and prevent further harm to people and structures until restoration efforts can be carried out, provisional post-seismic shorings have been extensively employed. These occurrences motivated several studies focused on the selection and assembly of post-seismic shorings, considering the various rigid failure mechanisms that may occur in a wall or section of an ancient masonry building. Yet, thus far, the critical considerations concerning the disassembly of these shorings, which significantly influence the repair process of a compromised structure from safety, organizational, and economic perspectives, have been overlooked. This research endeavors to establish a protocol for the dismantling of provisional shorings. To this end, a preliminary risk assessment tool has been devised, furnishing a safety index that correlates with the level of risk associated with shoring removal, along with corresponding risk categories. The study recommends preliminary interventions, categorized as mandatory or optional, to mitigate the risk prior to shoring removal. Furthermore, specific guidelines are provided based on the assessed risk level indicated by the safety index. To illustrate the application of this risk assessment tool, a case study involving an ancient masonry building in L'Aquila is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe the seismic-driven multi-hazard scenario of the Lake Campotosto artificial basin (Abruzzo Region, Central Italy), and it can represent a preparatory study for a quantitative multi-hazard analysis. A comprehensive multi-hazard scenario considers all the effects that can occur following the base ground shaking, providing a holistic approach to assessing the real hazard potential and helping to improve management of disaster mitigation. The study area might be affected by a complex earthquake-induced chain of geologic hazards, such as the seismic shaking, the surface faulting of the Gorzano Mt. Fault, which is very close to one of the three dams that form the Lake Campotosto, and by the earthquake-triggered landslides of different sizes and typologies. These hazards were individually and qualitatively analyzed, using data from an engineering-geological survey and a geomechanical classification of the rock mass. With regard to the seismic shaking, a quantitative evaluation of the seismic response of the Poggio Cancelli valley, in the northern part of Lake Campotosto, was performed, highlighting different seismic amplification phenomena due to morphologic and stratigraphic features. Some insights about the possible multi-hazard approaches are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring infrastructures is becoming an important and challenging issue. In Italy, the heritage consists of more than 60,000 bridges, which need to be inspected and detected in order to guarantee their strength and durability function during nominal lifespan. In this paper, a non-destructive survey methodology for study concrete bridges surface deterioration and viaducts is presented. Terrestrial and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry has been used for visual inspection of a standard concrete overpass in L'Aquila (Italy). The obtained orthomosaic has been processed by means of Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) to identify and classify deteriorated areas and decay forms. The results show a satisfactory identification and survey of deteriorated areas. It has also been possible to quantify metric information, such as width and length of cracks and extension of weathered areas. This allows to perform easy and fast periodic inspections over time in order to evaluate the evolution of deterioration and plan urgency of preservation or maintenance measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 20 years (1997 to 2017), four seismic sequences with Mw ≥ 5.5 mainshocks nucleated along the Central and Northern Apennines chain (Italy), causing casualties and damage: the 1997 Colfiorito, the 2009 L'Aquila, the 2012 Emilia, and the most recent 2016–2017 Central Italy seismic sequences. In this work, we perform a novel joint analysis of seismological and remote-sensing data to achieve new insights into the faulting process evolution during the considered seismic sequences. To this aim, we study these seismic sequences by exploiting the available seismological data and by applying fractals theory to them. In particular, we characterize the different behavior of compressional and extensional seismic sequences by examining the temporal evolution of the fractal dimension values. In addition, we compare the Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) displacement maps relevant to the considered seismic events (already published in our past papers) and the performed spatial and temporal seismological analyses, in order to emphasize some significant aspects of the different faulting processes active during these Italian seismic sequences. The analysis of the fractal dimension values shows that over time extensional seismic sequences are spatially distributed within a volume, whereas compressional ones are aligned along a preferential surface. These spatio-temporal patterns are confirmed by: (1) the spatial distribution of hypocenters for the events that occurred between the mainshock and the post-seismic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquisition; (2) the spatial extension of coseismic DInSAR ground-deformation patterns. The proposed seismic and ground-deformation analyses can thus typify different geodynamic contexts in Italy, providing a distinct image of articulated faulting processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic risk assessment has become a crucial issue for optimal management of economic resources allocated to mitigation. For this purpose, in the last decades, several research activities were aimed to update hazard, exposure, and vulnerability models that contribute to seismic risk assessment. From this perspective, the present work focuses on developing new empirical damage fragility curves for census-based typological unreinforced masonry buildings. In particular, damage data observed after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, Italy, related to almost 57,000 residential buildings, were used to calibrate the fragility functions. These data were complemented with the census data with the aim of obtaining an accurate estimation of the number of undamaged buildings. Damage fragility curves were identified for typological building classes, defined considering parameters present in both post-earthquake observations and census data with the aim of extending the results to the whole national territory. Six typological classes were defined considering the categories of the construction timespan and of the state of repair parameters. Then, a further distinction of the typological classes considering the number of stories parameter was included where relevant. The fragility curves were defined as a function of peak ground acceleration for five damage states, defined according to the European macroseismic scale. The results confirmed that older buildings are more vulnerable than newer ones and highlighted the crucial role of the state of repair on the damage fragility curves. Finally, the new set of damage fragility functions was uploaded in the Italian Risk Maps information technology platform, used by the Civil Protection Department for risk evaluation, as an exemplification of the potential application of the fragility curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]