Damage and vulnerability analysis of URM churches after the Canterbury earthquake sequence 2010-2011

The Canterbury earthquake sequence, in 2010-2011, has highlighted once again the vulnerability ofmonumental structures, in particular churches, and the importance of reducing their risk from an economic, cultural and social point of view. Within this context, detailed analysis is reported of the earthquake-induced damage to a stock of 48 unreinforcedmasonry churches located in the Canterbury Region and the vulnerability analysis of a wider stock of 293 churches located all around New Zealand. New tools were developed forthe assessmentof New Zealand churches. The computation of a new damage grade isproposed, assessed as a proper combination of the damage level to each macroelement, as a step towards the definition of a New Zealand specific damage survey form. Several vulnerability indicators were selected, which are related to easily detectable structural details and geometric dimensions. The collection of such data for the larger set of churches (293) constitutes a useful basis for evaluating the potential impact of future seismic events