Safety evaluation of school located in historical buildings and correct application of seismic isolation

During the audits at the 8th Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, held in the framework of the «Survey on the State of Seismic Safety in Italy», the very poor safety level of Italian schools was confirmed. In particular, it was stressed that 49 % of school buildings in Italy has no certificate of use and occupancy. It was estimated that 27,920 Italian school buildings are located in highly seismic areas: 4,856 in Sicily, 4,608 in Campania, 3,130 (100 % of the total) in Calabria, 2,864 in Tuscany and 2,521 in Lazio. In addition, 6,122 schools are located in high landslide hazard areas: 994 in Campania, 815 in Emilia-Romagna and 629 in Lombardy. Especially during the audits of the ENEA representatives and of the President of the Italian Major Risks Commission, it was also pointed out that more than 70 % of the Italian buildings are unable to withstand the earthquakes to which they may be subjected and that such a huge number of highly seismically vulnerable buildings includes several schools, often hosted by ancient or simply old constructions, for which seismic retrofit is impossible or overly expensive. In the above cases it is imperative to move the schools to other buildings, or existing (if they can ensure the necessary safety level or may be adequately seismically retrofitted), or ad hoc reconstructed with the best available technologies, by devoting the ancient buildings that cannot be adequately seismically retrofitted to other activities and by demolishing and rebuilding those which are just old.