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Measuring the progress of a recovery process after an earthquake: The case of L'Aquila, Italy

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Diana Maria Contreras Mojica

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).


Abstract

After the earthquake in 2009, L’Aquila (Italy) began a recovery process characterized by a delay in the reconstructionof the city center. Between 2010 and 2014 a recovery index was formulated based on spatialindicators, such as building condition and building use, to measure the progress of the recovery process inL’Aquila. Eight years after the earthquake, the work presented in this paper was used to update the recoveryindex, not only by measuring the progress of the recovery in L’Aquila but also by validating the usefulness of theproposed recovery index. To achieve this objective, the current research considered the same set of spatialindicators that were used to determine the progress of the recovery in L’Aquila by 2010, 2012, and 2014 in therevaluation of the expert criteria. It was found that in 2016 the number of reconstructed buildings and buildingsunder ongoing construction had significantly increased and the number of buildings with residential andcommercial use had increased along the main roads. While progress was observed in the overall building condition,there was no significant progress in the building use. This poses several questions about how the recoveryprocess can contribute to the return of the inhabitants to the city center of L’Aquila. The paper concludes that theproposed recovery index is useful for identifying the spatial pattern of the recovery process in an urban areaaffected by an earthquake. At the same time, this recovery index allows the recovery progress to be quantifiedbased on indicators.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Contreras D, Forino G, Blaschke T

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

Year: 2018

Volume: 28

Pages: 450-464

Print publication date: 01/06/2018

Online publication date: 03/10/2017

Acceptance date: 24/09/2017

Date deposited: 15/03/2019

ISSN (electronic): 2212-4209

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.09.048

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.09.048


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
DK W 1237-N23

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