Global objective for 2016-2017:

There are many examples of vernacular and traditional constructions located in earthquake-prone areas that are known to have been built featuring earthquake resistant characteristics. Currently, such traditional building techniques are considered outdated by decision makers, experts and, especially, by the population these constructions are often strengthened using modern materials and techniques. However, recent earthquakes (e.g. Umbria-Marche 1997, L'Aquila 2009) have shown that such strengthening approaches were, in fact, responsible for increasing the seismic vulnerability of such constructions.

In order to address this issue and reduce this vulnerability, the global objective of the project is:

To define a scientific framework to identify and validate the existing earthquake resistant characteristics of vernacular and traditional constructions.