Cumulative damage to school buildings following the 2016 central Italy earthquake sequence

The 2016 central Italy earthquake highlighted the cumulative effects of a seismic sequence on the damage to buildings. In particular, the paper focuses on the behaviour of school buildings struck by several earthquakes in the seismic sequence. An initial analysis involves the correlation between the main ground motion parameters and the seismic behaviour of school buildings. The correlation between ground motion parameters and usability rating of school buildings, collected by means of the AeDES survey form, is also discussed. The analysis showed that several school buildings, usable after the first shock on 24 August 2016, resulted unusable at the end of the seismic sequence due to the extensive structural or non-structural damage. The effects of the seismic sequence are herein discussed, taking into account the school buildings’ date of construction and relevant design methods, structural types (i.e. RC and masonry), and peak ground acceleration experienced in the sequence. Finally, relationships between damage and actual repair costs are used to observe the incidence of the damage provided by the seismic sequence in terms of economic losses.