Pioneering advanced recording technologies for post-earthquake-damage assessment and re-construction in Chilean heritage areas

The physical conservation of historic buildings is a challenge worldwide, but it is even more difficult in earthquake-prone areas. To avoid potential damage, mitigation strategies are required, such as periodic maintenance, repair and strengthening, usually not implemented at the scale of dwellings in heritage areas. Funding is generally available for monumental buildings—such as churches—leaving houses vulnerable to the effects of future earthquakes. After earthquakes, damaged dwellings cannot be immediately reinforced to continue habitation; generating disruption. If buildings are repairable, the costs are high due to the difficulty of working with the existing remains, resulting in a preference for new constructions on-site and elsewhere. Large numbers of affected constructions make damage assessment difficult, impacting in slow and sometimes out-of-context responses. This paper proposes an alternative to tackle these issues by using 3D-laser-scanningto document the as-built condition of houses after the 2010 earthquake in Lolol, a heritage village in Chile that was in progress of reconstruction and repair via the newly created Heritage Reconstruction Programme post-earthquake. The data obtained was used as a basis for designing alternative architectural interventions, with the potential of speeding up emergency responses and retrofits, leading to the re-use of the remaining built heritage. From this, the paper argues for the introduction of technology institutionally at a governmental level, to inform emergency strategies and a more sustainable, affordable and inclusive method for risk mitigation, repair and re-construction of domestic heritage in seismic-prone areas of Chile, which is also relevant for similar cases worldwide