October 20, 2019 has been declared to be Earthquake Prevention Day.
It will be a Sunday when technical professionals will take to the streets to talk about prevention.
https://www.giornataprevenzionesismica.it/
For our part as wood designers possimao say that we are very interested in seismic prevention and that building with wood is the best seismic prevention that can be achieved. Our wooden houses are a very good prevention against seismic risk, however with wood we can also provide the solution for existing buildings by putting in dry seismic upgrades that can bring huge benefits in terms of safety. With wood we are also able to create dry seismic coats by working from the outside without interfering with the lives of residents and simultaneously ensuring both seismic and energy improvement of buildings. We are therefore able to offer an intervention that simultaneously offers both energy and seismic bonus. The Italian government has made available the Seismic Bonus, which allows up to 85 percent of improvement expenses to be deducted in the short period of five years.
https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it/portale/Aree+tematiche/Casa/Agevolazioni/Sisma+bonus/
This is a truly unmissable opportunity, which, however, unfortunately, was not as successful as it should have been.
Table Sisma BonusIn order to obtain the Sisma Bonus, the project must provide for the simic improvement of structures by two level grades going for example from G to E. However with wood we are able to improve the classification easily reaching the highest levels. Unfortunately, when we talk about earthquake we always think that it is a phenomenon foreign to the geographical area in which we reside. When we see the image of an earthquake we think that these events always happen far away from where we live and that is why in Italy sadly at each seismic event we count the damage. In reality, 44% of Italy’s territory is seismically active and 550,000 homes are at risk. Earthquake engineering has been developed since 1960 and is still evolving. Each seismic event teaches what mistakes were made and also teaches aspects that were underestimated in the past. Today, for example, we know thattraditional masonry is far too fragile and that it breaks down, disintegrating ruinously due to ground acceleration. It has been realized that we need to pack them up to make them safe by preventing them from crumbling in the event of a seismic event as we have seen happen. The way to pack masonry is to cover it with stronger materials such as reinforced concrete but also wood and especiallyX Lam. Compared to concrete, wood is lighter and stronger and therefore less subject to seismic force and better able to withstand the pressures without breaking.
It is also quicker in installation, more environmentally friendly, and makes it easier for us to retrofit buildings in terms of energy improvement because it dissipates less heat and makes it easier to put on thermal insulation.
We should not forget that our geographical area of Veneto-although it does not have the sad records of Messina 1908, Marsica 1915, Belice 1968, Friuli 1976 and the more recent ones of L’Aquila 2009, Emilia 2012, Accumuli, Amatrice, Norcia 2016 and many others-has also been hit in less recent times by earthquakes of some significance. Recall, for example, the 1695 earthquake in Asolo with 400 deaths, the 1836 earthquake on Mount Grappa with 10 deaths, the 1873 earthquake in Treviso, and more anciently the January 3, 1117 earthquake that caused 30,000 deaths in northern Italy and also struck violently in the Veneto region. Because geological events span longer periods of human history, an earthquake can occur several generations apart and yet still create damage that can drag on for a long time even if it is forgotten after a few generations. This is why it is difficult to talk about prevention in Italy even though we then regularly find ourselves moved by the damage done. Not everything is comnimately negative, we can say that – for example – the works carried out in Norcia following the 1979 earthquake proved fundamental and avoided the victims that the 2016 earthquake claimed in other towns in the same area. We also learned from that event how prevention can save lives. Today we are putting wood in the field. Not for the first time. Wood already in Bourbon Italy and even in the high seismicity areas of Turkey had proven to be a valuable ally. Were it not for an erroneous cultural heritage present in some parts of Italy, wood in construction could be the tool for intelligent reconstruction of the building heritage lost in the recent earthquakes and also a tool to give a quick prospect of a peaceful future for those affected by these immense disasters. Today it is being studied and applied in the most seismically and technologically advanced areas of the planet to make buildings that simply will not break down in seismic events.