2010 Kraljevo Earthquake Recovery Process Metrics Derived from Recorded Reconstruction Data

Abstract

Earthquake resilience starts with a sudden drop of performance when an earthquake strikes followed by a relatively long recovery phase. The dynamics and volume of investment directly affect the rate and level of recovery. In this paper, the recovery process of the city of Kraljevo, Serbia following the M5.4 November 3, 2010 Kraljevo earthquake is analyzed. The base for this analysis is recorded reconstruction data that includes building types, damage states, damage survey dates, repair methods, and repair design, permit, and completion dates. Tracking the rate of building re-occupation and the rate of investment in repairs during the recovery process made it possible to construct empirical housing resilience curves for a community of about 70,000 people. The recorded data also provides insights into the reasons for different recovery rates for different building types and damages states, as well as a basis to evaluate the housing recovery management process and identify the significant influence of the reconstruction funding volume and rate on the sequencing, design and construction of the post-earthquake repairs. A comparison between the housing recovery after the 2010 Kraljevo and the 2009 Yunnan earthquakes shows significant simulates, pointing to the need to further improve, optimize and standardize post-earthquake housing recovery strategies worldwide.