Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Performance of the health facilities during the 2012 Emilia (Italy) earthquake and analysis of the Mirandola hospital case study

  • Original Research Paper
  • Published:
Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper outlines the response of the healthcare system in the area mainly affected by the 2012 Emilia earthquake by drawing on specific surveys and information from local health authorities. Some hospitals were evacuated after the M\(_\mathrm{l}\) = 5.8 May 20 seismic event due to damage to non structural components and minor structural damage. A short description of the damage suffered and characteristics of the healthcare system as a whole is offered initially, followed by a detailed description of the effects which took place at the Santa Maria Bianca hospital of Mirandola. The focus has been on damage to non structural elements and content, whose integrity is of primary importance for healthcare structures performance during and after a seismic event. Some instruments for the acquisition of accelerometric data were installed after the May 20 event both outside and inside a building which is part of the hospital complex. The seismic behavior of this building has also been analysed by means of a purposely made finite element model and on the basis of the recorded data. The contribution of undamaged and damaged masonry infills to the global seismic response has also been estimated thus providing some hints on the observed building performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Applied Technology Council (ATC) (2000) U.S.–Italy collaborative recommendations for improved seismic safety of hospitals in Italy. Technical report ATC-51, Redwood City, CA

  • Applied Technology Council (ATC) (2002) Recommended U.S.–Italy collaborative procedures for earthquake emergency response planning for hospitals in Italy. Technical report ATC-51-1, Redwood City, CA

  • Augenti N, Cosenza E, Dolce M, Manfredi G, Masi A, Samela L (2004) Performance of school buildings during the Molise earthquake sequence of October 31, November 1 2002. Earthq Spectra 20:S257–S270 (Special Issue on the Molise 2002 earthquake)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braga F, Manfredi V, Masi A, Salvatori A, Vona M (2011) Performance of non-structural elements in RC buildings during the L’Aquila, 2009 earthquake. Bull Earthq Eng 9(1):307–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro RR, Mucciarelli M, Pacor F, Federici P, Zaninetti A (1998) Determination of the characteristic frequency of two dams located in the region of Calabria, Italy. Bull Seism Soc Am 88(2):503–511

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiauzzi L, Masi A, Mucciarelli M, Vona M, Pacor F, Cultrera G, Gallovič F, Emolo A (2012) Building damage scenarios based on exploitation of Housner intensity derived from finite faults ground motion simulations. Bull Earthq Eng 10(2):517–545

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Sortis A, Di Pasquale G, Orsini G, Sano T, Biondi S, Nuti, C Vanzi L (2000) Hospitals behavior during the September 1997 earthquake in Umbria and Marche (Italy). In: Proceedings of the 12th world conference on earthquake engineering, Auckland, New Zealand

  • Decreto ministeriale 16 gennaio 1996 (1996) Norme tecniche per le costruzioni in zone sismiche, Gazzetta Ufficiale 5 febbraio 1996, no. 29 (in Italian)

  • Di Giulio G, Azzara RM, Cultrera G, Giammarinaro MS, Vallone P, Rovelli A (2005) Effect of local geology on ground motion in the city of Palermo, Italy, as inferred from aftershocks of the 6 September 2002 Mw 5.9 earthquake. Bull Seism Soc Am 95:2328–2341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ditommaso R, Parolai S, Mucciarelli M, Eggert S, Sobiesiak M, Zschau J (2010) Monitoring the response and the back-radiated energy of a building subjected to ambient vibration and impulsive action: the Falkenhof Tower (Potsdam, Germany). Bull Earthq Eng 8:705–722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ditommaso R, Mucciarelli M, Parolai S, Picozzi M (2012) Monitoring the structural dynamic response of a masonry tower: comparing classical and time-frequency analyses. Bull Earthq Eng 10(4):1221–1235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EERI—Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (2012) Emilia earthquake Clearinghouse. Available at http://www.eqclearinghouse.org/2012-05-20-italy/2012/05/28/194/

  • Galli P, Castenetto S, Peronace E (2012) The MCS macroseismic survey of the Emilia 2012 earthquakes. Ann Geophys 55(4). doi:10.4401/ag-6163

  • Gallipoli MR, Mucciarelli M, Castro R, Monachesi G, Contri P (2004) Structure, soil-structure response and effects of damage based on observations of horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio of microtremors. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 24(6):487–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallipoli MR, Mucciarelli M, Vona M (2009) Empirical estimate of fundamental frequencies and damping for Italian buildings. Earthq Eng Struct Dyn 38:973–988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallipoli MR, Mucciarelli M, Šket-Motnikar B, Zupanćić P, Gosar A, Prevolnik S, Herak M, Stipčević J, Herak D, Milutinović Z, Olumćeva T (2010) Empirical estimates of dynamic parameters on a large set of European buildings. Bull Earthq Eng 8:593–607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grünthal G (ed) (1998) European Macroseismic Scale 1998 (EMS-98). Cahiers du Centre Européen de Géodynamique et de Séismologie 15, Centre Européen de Géodynamique et de Séismologie, Luxembourg, p 99

  • Lupoi G, Franchin P, Lupoi A, Pinto PE, Calvi GM (2008) Probabilistic seismic assessment for hospitals and complex-social systems. Research report Rose 2008/02, IUSS Press, Pavia, Italy

  • Manfredi V, Masi A (2011) Seismic assessment of existing RC buildings based on different hazard maps, Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica e Applicata. Int J Earth Sci 52(2):321–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Masi A, Dolce M, Caterina F (1997) Seismic response of irregular multi-storey building structures with flexible inelastic diaphragms. Int J Struct Des Tall Build 6(2):99–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masi A, Vona M (2010) Experimental and numerical evaluation of the fundamental period of undamaged and damaged RC buildings. Bull Earthq Eng 8(3):643–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masi A, Vona M, Mucciarelli M (2011) Selection of natural and synthetic accelerograms for seismic vulnerability studies on RC frames. J Struct Eng 137(3):367–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masi A, Vona M (2012) Vulnerability assessment of gravity-load designed RC buildings: evaluation of seismic capacity trough non linear dynamic analyses. Eng Struct 45:257–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh JK, Jacques C, Mitrani-Reiser J, Kirsch TD, Giovinazzi S, Wilson TM (2012) The impact of the 22nd February 2011 earthquake on Christchurch Hospital. In: Proceedings of the 2012 NZSEE conference (paper no. 124), 13–15 April, Christchurch, New Zealand

  • Meade C, Kulick J (2007) SB1953 and the challenge of hospital seismic safety in California. Prepared for the California Healthcare Foundation, Oakland, California, USA

  • Mucciarelli M, Gallipoli MR, Masi A, Vona M, Ponzo F, Dolce M (2004) Analysis of RC building dynamic response and soil-building resonance based on data recorded during a damaging earthquake (Molise, Italy 2002). Bull Seism Soc Am 94(5):1943–1953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mucciarelli M, Bianca M, Ditommaso R, Gallipoli MR, Masi A, Milkereit C, Parolai S, Picozzi M, Vona M (2011) Far field damage on RC buildings: the case study of Navelli during the L’Aquila (Italy) seismic sequence, 2009. Bull Earthq Eng 9(1):263–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NTC08 (2008) D.M. 14 gennaio 2008—Norme tecniche per le costruzioni (in Italian). Ministero delle Infrastrutture (in Italian). Available at http://www.cslp.it

  • Nuti C, Santini S, Vanzi I (2004) Damage, vulnerability and retrofitting strategies for the Molise hospital system following the 2002 Molise, Italy, Earthquake. Earthq Spectra 20(S1):285–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ordinanza del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri no. 3274/2003 (2003) Primi elementi in materia di criteri generali per la classificazione sismica del territorio nazionale e di normative tecniche per le costruzioni in zona sismica. Supplemento ordinario Gazzetta Ufficiale 8 maggio 2003, no. 105 (in Italian)

  • PAHO/WHO (2000) Principles of disaster mitigation in health facilities. Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation, Washington, DC

  • Papia M, Cavaleri L, Fossetti M. (2003) Infilled frames: developments in the evaluation of the stiffening effect of infills, Structural Engineering and Mechanics, TechnoPress, Korea, 16 (6), 675-693

    Google Scholar 

  • Price HJ, De Sortis A, Schotanus M (2012) Performance of the San Salvatore Regional Hospital in the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. Earthq Spectra 28:239–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pujades LG, Roca A, Oliveira CS, Safina S (2006) Response of hospital systems, In: Assessing and managing earthquake risk, Oliveira CS, Roca A, Goula X (eds) Springer, The Netherlands

  • Stockwell RG, Mansinha L, Lowe RP (1996) Localization of the complex spectrum: the S transform. IEEE Trans Signal Process 44:998–1001

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The contribution of Giovanni Ferrara, Silvia Covili and Gianni Morselli of the Healthcare Agency of Modena province is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

    Angelo Masi, Giuseppe Santarsiero, Marco Mucciarelli & Vincenzo Manfredi

  2. IMAA-CNR, Tito, Italy

    Maria Rosaria Gallipoli & Tony Alfredo Stabile

  3. CRS-OGS, National Institute of Oceanography and Geophysics, Trieste, Italy

    Marco Mucciarelli

  4. Numeria Consulting, Cremona, Italy

    Alberto Dusi

Authors
  1. Angelo Masi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Giuseppe Santarsiero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maria Rosaria Gallipoli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marco Mucciarelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Vincenzo Manfredi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Alberto Dusi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Tony Alfredo Stabile
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giuseppe Santarsiero.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Masi, A., Santarsiero, G., Gallipoli, M.R. et al. Performance of the health facilities during the 2012 Emilia (Italy) earthquake and analysis of the Mirandola hospital case study. Bull Earthquake Eng 12, 2419–2443 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9518-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9518-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation