Damage potential of the 2009 L'aquila, Italy, earthquake

On April 6, 2009 (1:32 UTC) an earthquake of magnitude MW 6.3, caused by a normal fault rupture, shook the Abruzzo Region of Central Italy causing 309 deaths, hundreds injured and thousands homeless. L'Aquila city, which is located very close to the causative fault in hanging wall position, was severely damaged by the event. In this work, after a description of the damages observed in reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, a study on the characterization of damage potential of strong ground motions recorded during the main shock and the strongest aftershocks is presented. Elastic and inelastic spectral demands, in terms of displacement, forces, and energy are estimated and different parameters related to the "ground motion records destructiveness" are calculated. Moreover, the demand imposed on multi degree of freedom systems is estimated by means of nonlinear dynamic analyses and compared to the single degree of freedom systems demand. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company.