SHELTER – Structural Hyper-resisting Element for Life Threatening Earthquake Risk. An innovative approach for seismic protection

•Proposal of an innovative approach to save lives in case of earthquakes causing building collapse.•Creation of a hyper-strong structural protection “capsule” where building occupants can be sheltered.•Systems to protect occupants against shock and allow survival until rescue arrival.•Taking advantage of last developments in Earthquake Early Warning Systems. This paper presents an innovative approach to save human lives in the event of an earthquake, even in the case of building collapse, when overall structural strengthening, the ideal solution, is not viable. The proposed solution consists of a seismic shelter for individual apartments, with reasonable costs and fast installation. This approach takes advantage of recent developments in Earthquake Early Warning Systems (EEWS), which may allow for a few tens of seconds of anticipation. Such amount of time is normally insufficient for a safe building evacuation but long enough to get protection within the shelter. The shelter unit mainly consists of a protecting “capsule”, integrated in the architectural layout. The life protection is ensured during the possible building collapse (or just falling debris) by the “capsule” mechanical strength and stiffness together with specific safety systems, namely against severe shock. Besides, the shelter is provided with technical systems and goods to ensure survival with reasonable comfort during the enclosure period, between the earthquake occurrence and the rescue arrival.