SafeSchools

The protection of schools and critical infrastructure against earthquakes and other natural hazards is a subject of first priority for society and civil protection. The safety of students, teachers, and other employees, as well as the school units themselves, is non-negotiable. SafeSchools project deals with the design, instrumentation, and operation of an innovative system for the early warning of the incoming earthquake and more importantly for the real-time assessment (i.e. few seconds before the strong ground motion hits the target building structure) of the expected level of damages and losses of school buildings, which depend on their specific structural typology. The alert provided through sound signals at school buildings and simultaneously through the early warning of civil protection authorities gives the opportunity to activate critical safety measures and therefore permits the best protection actions to be taken in case of an earthquake event. The proposed system with few adjustments could be used for other natural disasters.