Intersecting Vulnerabilities: Bucharest Housing at the Nexus of Seismic Exposure, Social Precarity and Cultural Perception of Risk

The topic of earthquakes is not just about buildings; it also concerns the people who live in them. When we refer to earthquakes, we are not merely referring to buildings – we are talking about the people who live in them. Earthquakes do not affect everyone equally, even when we inhabit equally unsafe structures. In today’s urban context, seismic risk cannot be reduced to technical aspects, just as vulnerability can no longer be understood solely as exposure to natural hazards. Seismic risk involves the interaction of structural, political, social, economic, and cultural factors. This article focuses on Bucharest – the European capital with the highest seismic risk (Armaș et al., 2017; Crowley et al., 2021) – marked by a long seismic history and fragile residential infrastructure. Based on qualitative research, including 32 in-depth interviews conducted between March 2022 and September 2024 with tenants and owners of high-risk buildings in Bucharest, each lasting between 1h30m and 3h, this study highlights how structural and social vulnerabilities intersect and amplify one another. It further explores symbolic representations and myths embedded in the collective memory of past seismic events. The paper reconceptualizes housing as a space of internalized danger and addresses seismic risk not as an isolated threat, but as a socially and culturally embedded reality. It concludes by underlining the need for an interdisciplinary mapping of vulnerabilities and urban policies centred on community resilience and local perceptions of risk.