Seismic damage survey and empirical fragility curves for churches after the August 24, 2016 Central Italy earthquake

This paper presents the results of a damage survey conducted on a wide stock of churches in Central Italy, hit by the August 24, 2016 Amatrice seismic sequence. In the weeks following the mainshock, the authors performed a damage assessment of 196 churches in the area involved by the seismic event, aiming to identify damage mechanisms and calculate damage index for each structure. Churches have similar characteristics within the analyzed area, with typical architectural elements, homogeneous structural types and similar construction materials. A discussion presents the main evidences observed during the survey and, lastly, empirical fragility functions are derived for this specific structural type.