Preliminary Seismic Damage Assessment of Mexican Churches after September 2017 Earthquakes

The article presents a preliminary assessment of seismic damage shown by 60 Mexican churches after the two earthquakes arisen in September 2017. The first earthquake occurred on September 7th and hit mainly the States of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Tabasco, with a magnitude Mw 8.2. The second, on 19th September struck the central Mexico area, mainly the Puebla and Morelos State, and had a magnitude Mw 7.1. The data analyzed were collected through a systematic survey campaign that is still in progress, and by applying a specific Mexican form obtained from the Italian one including some new observed response mechanisms, typical of churches typology examined. The paper concludes with a statistical analysis of the seismic damage conducted with the tool of Damage Probability Matrixes (DPMs) and fragility curves.