Author(s)

M. Uranjek, B. Dolinšek & S. Gostič

Abstract

Seismic activity of the Posočje region, located in the north-east of Slovenia is considerably high. Four major earthquakes have hit this area in the last three decades. Among buildings to be repaired and/or strengthened, churches represent a significant share of the building fund. Churches which are often classified as cultural heritage are usually an indispensable part of settlements and their identity. In order to preserve these prominent buildings for future generations, there is a need for attentive and consistent planning of preliminary research, strengthening procedures and their execution. If compared to ordinary buildings in the Posočje region, which are typically characterized by inadequate building quality, churches in this region are of better quality. Nevertheless, on account of their typical design, strengthening procedures are more complex and demanding, and therefore, adequate seismic resistance is harder to achieve compared to ordinary buildings. In the paper, some of the basic strengthening procedures applied on churches in the Posočje region are presented. Keywords: church, strengthening, earthquake renewal, seismic resistance. 1 Introduction Seismic activity of the Posočje region, located in the north-east of Slovenia is considerably high, namely four major earthquakes hit this area in last three decades. First earthquake in May 1976 reached the grade IX.-X. and the second one in September 1976 the grade of IX. according to EMS scale. Earthquakes in 1976 caused damage to around 12.000 buildings, of which 4.200 were completely destroyed. Consequently people in this area became aware of the danger and begun to construct buildings which were safer and more resistant to

Keywords

church, strengthening, earthquake renewal, seismic resistance