GNGTS 2023 - Atti del 41° Convegno Nazionale

Session 2.2 GNGTS 2023 VISUS methodology for the multi-hazard safety assessment of learning facilities: 10 years of applications under UNESCO coordination S. Grimaz, P. Malisan SPRINT-Lab. Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture. University of Udine. Italy Introduction. In the aftermath of hazardous events (such as earthquakes, tornados, flooding, fire), damage to schools and infrastructure is often cause of interruption of child’s education. The heavy impact of disasters on children and on the educational sector has a valuable influence on decision-makers for the planning of actions aimed at disaster risk reduction (DRR). The mitigation of impacts of natural hazards requires economic resources that should be allocated after figuring out the actual risk of schools. Working in this sense, several resolutions exist concerning the educational sector, with a specific focus on the safety of school facilities; among these, the Comprehensive School Safety Framework (CSSF) (GADRRRES, 2022), the Sendai Framework (UNDRR, 2015), and the 2030 Agenda (United Nations General Assembly, 2015) are of particular importance. The CSSF highlights strategic goals for DRR in the education sector. It is based on four components: safer learning facilities, school safety and educational continuity management, risk reduction and resilience education, and enabling systems and policies. The Sendai Framework for DRR (2015-2030) highlights in a specific target the necessity to substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them educational facilities. The 2030 Agenda, in the Sustainable Development Goal nr. 4 declares the necessity to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The abovementioned agendas and frameworks highlight the necessity to provide children with safe learning facilities. Considering this, decision-makers should take actions in support of these commitments and define strategies on how to upgrade the safety of learning facilities, especially considering the existing ones. This implies that they need an overall evidence-based picture of the situation which enables the definition and implementation of plans and strategies for school safety upgrading. For supporting the decision-makers in the definition of safety upgrading strategies for a multitude of learning facilities (i.e., at district or country level), the SPRINT-Lab researchers at the University of Udine developed a specific methodology named VISUS (Visual Inspections for defining Safety Upgrading Strategies)(Grimaz & Malisan, 2019a). This paper shortly summarises the main characteristics of VISUS, and then shows an overview of the implementation of VISUS in pilot projects all over the world in the last ten years, which have been developed thanks to the