Earthquake Resilient Schools in High Seismicity Areas of Europe: The case of Greece-Türkiye Cross Border Area

In high seismicity regions, one of the greatest risks to population safety is the catastrophic impact of earthquakes. Among the critical societal infrastructures at risk are school buildings, which house both students and staff. In earthquake-prone countries, enhancing the preparedness of schools to address seismic risks is essential. This effort raises two fundamental questions for authorities: (a) what are the most effective measures to create earthquake-resilient schools? (b) How can civil protection agencies contribute to achieving this goal?

To address question (a), building earthquake-resilient schools requires a multifaceted approach combining structural, educational, and policy-driven measures. Key actions include implementing structural and engineering reinforcements, developing robust policies and securing funding, providing education and training programs, fostering community involvement, utilizing technology for real-time monitoring, and ensuring effective post-disaster recovery plans. For question (b), civil protection agencies play a pivotal role in supporting earthquake-resilient schools by leveraging their expertise, resources, and coordination capabilities to enhance prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.

A joint effort, within the framework of the European project Earthquake Resilient Schools (EReS), has been initiated to promote earthquake resilience in the Cross-Border Area (CBA) of Greece and Türkiye. The project focuses on harmonizing seismic hazard and risk assessments in the CBA and implementing joint preventive and response measures against potential earthquake disasters. Four pilot sites—two in Greece (Alexandroupolis and Samos) and two in Türkiye (Izmir and Canakkale)—have been selected for monitoring specific school buildings, using low cost-New Gen instrumentation (accelerometers). School Seismology practices have been applied in  Çanakkale and Alexandroupolis to contribute to awareness raising of school community as a pilot study. 

Real-time seismic data from these schools are streamed to the Computer Centers of respective institutions for analysis, for predicting rapid prediction of structural damage, such as inter-story drift and stiffness degradation. These findings are expected to enhance seismic preparedness and to provide tools for rapid post-earthquake assessments.

In parallel, educational and training activities were conducted for students and staff, along with preparedness drills at the pilot sites. The benefits of this collaborative effort in the CBA are discussed, highlighting its contribution to enhancing earthquake resilience in schools. Finally, recommendations for further steps to strengthen school preparedness and safety against seismic risks are proposed.