Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Rural Areas: Case Study of the Vrutok Village and Recane Village in Gostivar, North Macedonia, Using Vulnerability Index Method

Abstract
_________________________

Applying methodologies that enable faster evaluation of larger numbers of buildings are frequently applied approaches for seismic vulnerability assessment in larger urban areas. The same methods can also be useful in examining large numbers of existing buildings in rural areas. Considering the high seismic vulnerability of masonry buildings and the fact that there is large number of masonry buildings in rural areas, seismic risk assessment in these areas is particularly important. Masonry buildings in rural areas of the Republic of North Macedonia were mostly built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s or earlier. Where it is clearly seen that these buildings were built before the existence of seismic design regulations. The aim of the research is to examine the vulnerability of existing masonry buildings in the selected areas, in order to analyze the seismic risk. In the research, two villages were selected for analysis. In the article, the vulnerability index method was applied to evaluate the vulnerability of existing masonry buildings in the village Vrutok and village Recane in Gostivar, North Macedonia. As part of research, 49 buildings were evaluated, where 26 buildings are in the village Vrutok and 23 buildings in the village Recane.
Keywords: Masonry buildings, Seismic risk, Vulnerability

References
_________________________

1. Bernardini, A., Giovinazzi, S., Lagomarsino, S., Parodi, S., Bernardini, S. G. A., (2007). “Vulnerabilità e previsione di danno a scala territoriale secondo una metodologia macrosismica coerente con la scala EMS-98”, em In Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the Italian National Association of Earthquake Engineering – ANIDIS.
2. Ferreira, T.M., (2010) “Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Old Urban Centres – Case Study of the Old City Centre of Seixal, Portugal”. Thesis of the post-graduate course in Rehabilitation of the Built Heritage, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal.
3. Ferreira, T., Vicente, R., Varum, H. (2014). “Seismic vulnerability assessment of masonry façade walls: Development, application and validation of a new scoring method.” Structural engineering & mechanics. Vol.50. No.5, pp. 541-561. DOI: 10.12989/sem.2014.50.4.541
4. Ferreira, T.M., Mario, R., Vicente, R. (2017). “Vulnerability Assessment of the Old City Centre of Horta Portugal: Calibration and Application of a Scoring Method”. 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, 16WCEE 2017, Santiago, Chile.
5. Lumantarna, E., Lam, N, Tsang, H, Wilson, J., Gad, E., and Goldsworthy, H. (2014). “Review of Methodologies for Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Buildings”. Australian Earthquake Engineering Society 2014 Conference, Nov. 21−23 Lorne, Australia.
6. Nikolic, Z., Runjic, L., Ostojic Skomrlj, N., Benvenuti, E. (2021). “Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Historical Masonry Buildings in Croatian Coastal Area”. Applied Sciences, Vol. 11 No. 13, pp. 5997. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11135997
7. Speranza, E. (2003). “An Integrated Method for the Assessment of the Seisimic Vulnerability of Historic Buildings”. Phd thesis, University of Bath, UK.
8. Vicente, R.D. (2008). “Estrategias e metodologias para interveneçoes de reabilitaçao urbana Avaliaçao da vulnerabilidade e do risco sismico do edificado de Baixa de Coimbra”.
9. Vicente, R., Parodi, S., Lagomarsino, S., Varum, H., Mendes Silva, J. A. R. (2011). “Seismic vulnerability and risk assessment: case study of the historic city centre of Coimbra, Portugal”, Bull Earthquake Eng. No. 9, pp.1067–1096. DOI 10.1007/s10518-010-9233-3.
10. URL-1. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Rećаne,Gostivar#/media/File:ПогледнаРечане. jpg (accessed 15 June.2024)
11. URL-2. Total resident population of the Republic of North Macedonia by ethnic affiliation, by settlement, Census 2021. Available at: PxWeb (accessed 15 June. 2024)
12. URL-3. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Vrutok#/media/File:ПогледнаВруток.jpg (accessed 15 June.2024)
13. URL-3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vrutok#/ media/File:Погледна_Вруток.jpg Last Accessed: 15.06.2024

Corresponding Author

Jasemin Hodza Djafer,

International Vision University,

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture,

Gostivar,

North Macedonia,

E-mail: yasemin.hoca@vision.edu.mk