# Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Historical Masonry Buildings in Croatian Coastal Area
Several contributions in the literature discuss various vulnerability assessment methodologies and case studies, in which the level of vulnerability and damage depend on the intensity of the seismic event [31; 32]. In particular, we refer to [33] for a comprehensive review of the most relevant vulnerability assessment methods applicable at different scales. The applied approach depends on the study area (settlement, city, region, country) and the available data about the building stock, the purpose of the study, and the seismic hazard and damage levels induced by past earthquakes. Considering the scarcity of post-earthquake damage observation data, especially in places where there have been no significant recent earthquakes, modern analytical approaches based on non-linear pushover analysis or incremental dynamic analysis offer the possibility to define vulnerability functions and maps independently of the available information about the damage level. In general, methodologies for assessing seismic vulnerability and earthquake risk are being devised and applied in developed countries with high seismic risk that are able to allocate significant financial resources for seismic risk management. Croatia is a country with relatively limited resources dedicated to seismic risk prevention and management. To date, there is no technical regulation that prescribes the rules for assessing seismic vulnerability or seismic risk. The main contributions to the investigation of the seismic vulnerability mainly are drawn from individual research work, mainly focusing on the classification of the building stock and the development of vulnerability curves in the cities of Zagreb and Osijek. The vulnerability assessment in Zagreb concerns building classification and the development of fragility curves, whereas damage probability matrices related to earthquake intensity and structural systems have been used in assessments of damage according to the EMS-98 scale [34]. The vulnerability assessment of old confined masonry buildings in Osijek was recently performed using vulnerability indexes with behavior modifiers and damage states assessed according to EMS-98 [35]. An approach based on damage index coefficients and single-degree-of-freedom systems was applied to a historical building located in Tvrdja, Osijek [36]. Mean damage levels, uD, according to the macro-seismic method [35] and the analytical capacity spectrum method, have been used to estimate the vulnerability of a few blocks of buildings, representative of the Osijek city, and the relevant fragility curves have been calculated [37]. All these investigations consider masonry buildings that are typical of continental Croatia. In addition, they have mostly estimated the damage for some building typologies merely based on the structural system and period of construction, while neglecting other relevant peculiarities. Cities and settlements on the Adriatic coast have been gradually built and expanded over the centuries, and some of them, such as Split, are almost two millennia old. Some of these settlements are old towns with massive stone masonry buildings, which are often protected and declared architectural heritage sites. Around the cores of these sites, settlements have spread, especially since the second half of the 20 th century. Buildings in old city cores are very sensitive to earthquakes for several reasons. Firstly, they were constructed with unconfined stone walls and wooden ceilings, which cannot effectively transmit earthquake force. Secondly, their state of maintenance is often critical, considering their age. On the other hand, these city centers are densely populated, and the large number of tourists during the summer conspicuously increases the number of inhabitants. The seismic vulnerability assessment of the buildings of such towns and cities is crucial for the safety of permanent inhabitants and tourists.