Risk and resilience in practice: Cultural heritage buildings

Abstract

[Excerpt] The recent occurrence of devastating natural and man-made hazardous events has raised the awareness ofnumerous international institutions connected to dis-aster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk manage-ment (DRM). The development of new risk assessmentand mitigation strategies is, therefore, internationallyencouraged, particularly by focussing on the identifica-tion of the most vulnerable elements to reduce theirvulnerability, while enhancing preparedness and recov-ery capacity. In the particular case of cultural heritage,international frameworks and programmes for DRR areincreasingly echoing concerns about its protection fromdisasters given its irreplaceable value for society.Coherent recommendations for assessing and mitigat-ing disaster risk in the built cultural heritage should,therefore, be considered a priority. Still, in order to beable to define more adequate mitigation strategies andoutline appropriate conservation and restoration inter-ventions that will reduce vulnerabilities and enhancethe overall resilience, the protection of cultural heritagebuildings should be based on a comprehensive knowl-edge of risks. [...]