Follow-up of the Post-seismic reconstruction in Le Teil from the November 11th 2019 seismic event to now: Insights and zoom over building rehabilitation

The magnitude Mw 4.9 earthquake of November 11, 2019 strongly affected the municipality of Le Teil, Rhone Valley, France. A quarter of around 2,800 exposed buildings were damaged, which led to safety evacuation orders. BRGM, the French Geological Survey, was commissioned by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion to collect quantitative data about the progress of the reconstruction. This work focuses on field monitoring of certain resilience parameters, such as the time for reconstruction and repairs. On the basis of emergency post-earthquake building safety inspections done by the French Association for Earthquake Engineering (AFPS), the reconstruction of buildings in the municipality of Le Teil is studied at different scales: building, infra-communal and communal. Interpreting damage observations and modelling reconstruction requires multiple sources of information, hence the importance of having data at these three different scales. Based on their reference state in the damaged buildings database, and in order to assess the progress of the reconstruction, the buildings are assigned a reconstruction stage based on annual visual inspections conducted from street level. In addition, a set of indicators has been employed to provide quantitative information evolving over time, such as the number of evacuation orders (issued and lifted) or the number of buildings whose reconstruction process has begun. Moreover, this study includes a detailed classification of the buildings, estimations for their vulnerability and predictive risk scenario calculations depending on assumptions about the level of structural reinforcement. These elements raise important questions about the reconstruction, particularly from the point of view of design standards. Finally, we highlight the importance of physical vulnerability and recovery capacities, two main components of the reconstruction process. This work constitutes a pioneering effort in terms of collecting records and observations of post-earthquake reconstruction in France, over a multi-year timespan.