The Role of UAV and Laser Scanners in the Post-earthquake Assessment of Heritage Buildings After the 2020 Earthquakes in Croatia

In the wake of recent strong earthquakes in Croatia, there is a need for a detailed and more comprehensive post-earthquake damage assessment. Given that masonry structures are highly vulnerable to horizontal actions caused by earthquakes and a majority of the Croatian building stock is made of masonry, this field is particularly important for Croatia. In this paper, the “regular” post-earthquake assessment procedures of damaged buildings are given and new technologies such as photogrammetry, laser scanning and UAV are shown in order to preserve the built heritage. As Zagreb was severely damaged by the earthquakes in 2020, there is an urgent need to make, at least, digital twins of representative buildings. In this manuscript, different case studies with different demands for preservation are shown.