CUANTIFICAREA COMPARATIVĂ MULTICRITERIALĂ A VULNERABILITĂȚII SEISMICE URBANE ÎN MOLDOVA

The seismic vulnerability of urban spaces in Romania and the human communities living in them constitutes one of the most alarming national security problems. Paradoxically, the problem is included in the list of those whose solution is placed, year after year, in an uncertain future. Several factors converge towards this postponement, including the lack of knowledge regarding the nature and real size of seismic vulnerability, the lack of awareness of the fundamental role (as a predictor and modelable element) of vulnerability in the risk equation by the authorities and the shortcomings of the legislative framework regarding seismic risk reduction.
This research aims to quantify the seismic vulnerability of four urban settlements in the Moldovan region by developing a conceptual and operational framework capable of integrating the multiple facets of vulnerability.
The proposed operationalization differs from conventional methodological approaches in that it analyzes the different types of seismic vulnerability (geotechnical/susceptibility, physical, socio-economic, systems, psychological) in an integrative and modular manner at the level of each of the four administrative-territorial units of the municipality type (Iași, Vaslui, Galați and Focșani) and not of the neighborhoods that make up one and the same urban space. The described approach belongs to the research efforts in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction, but borrows specific elements of the behaviorist paradigm – a reference for studies related to the natural sciences, as well as specific elements of the structural theoretical school – preferred by studies related to the humanities.
The results of the multi-criteria quantification of seismic vulnerability can facilitate the establishment of priorities regarding the direction of funds necessary for the development and implementation of seismic vulnerability and risk reduction strategies by authorities operating at national, regional or even local levels. The ranking of urban areas, according to different types of seismic vulnerability, highlights the key points of each study area, providing a clear picture of the aspects that require urgent ameliorative interventions.
This volume constitutes an invitation to study and understand vulnerability, as decisive steps in the broader approach of reducing it at the individual and collective level. In other words, the invitation aims to transform the cities in which we live into safer places, where life in all its forms can thrive, as well as to transform our status from that of victims of natural hazards into shapers of our own vulnerability.