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Recent earthquakes have demonstrated a significant contribution of the masonry infill walls in the structural response of the reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. Field observations after the 25th April's earthquake in Nepal reinforce the conclusion regarding the influence of the infill walls increasing significantly the structural stiffness, which has a direct impact on the natural frequencies of the structure and of structural elements. Firstly the manuscript focuses on the performance of the infilled RC structures, describing common Nepalese architectural configurations and the major damages observed in infilled RC buildings. Secondly, it shows results from data collected on ambient vibration tests performed in seven infill panels with different characteristics, such as geometric dimensions, openings and levels of damage. These results are used to study the influence of each parameter in the out-of-plane frequency of the wall panels. The present studies along the manuscript are followed by a presentation of the study cases (buildings and the walls), test setups, main results and conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kathmandu Valley is geologically located on lacustrine sediment basin, characterized by a long history of destructive earthquakes. The past events resulted in large structural damage, loss of human life's and property, and interrupted the social development. In recent years, the earthquake risk in this area has significantly increased due to uncontrolled development, poor construction practices with no earthquake safety provisions, and lack of awareness amongst the general public and government authorities. In this context, this study explores the realistic situation of earthquake losses due to future earthquakes in Kathmandu Valley. To this end, three municipalities: (a) Kathmandu Metropolitan City, (b) Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City and (c) Bhaktapur Municipality are selected for a case study. The earthquake loss estimation in the selected municipalities is performed through the combination of seismic hazard, structural vulnerability, and exposure data. Regarding the seismic input, various earthquakes scenario considering four seismic sources in Nepal are adopted. For what concerns the exposure, existing literature describing the construction typologies and data from the recent national census survey of 2011 are employed to estimate ward level distribution of buildings. The economic losses due to the earthquake scenarios are determined using fragility functions. Finally, the ward level distribution of building damage and the corresponding economic losses for each earthquake scenario is obtained using the OpenQuake-engine. The distribution of building damage within the Kathmandu Valley is currently being employed in the development of a shelter model for the region, involving various local authorities and decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portugal has its past marked by the occurrence of very destructive earthquakes. In the well-known 1755 Lisbon earthquake, more than 50 % of the building stock was heavily damaged or destroyed and about 10 % of the population in Lisbon perished. In the beginning of the last century, a moderate event of magnitude 6.0 Mw struck the village of Benavente, causing 46 fatalities and damaging more than 3000 dwellings. The Portuguese building stock in highly populated centres is characterized by a large fraction of masonry buildings, which typically have a higher seismic vulnerability. For these reasons, it is clear that a reliable and accurate platform for damage estimation based on deterministic earthquake scenarios is fundamental, in order to create adequate post-disaster response plans, or to understand which structure types are contributing to the human and economic losses. This study provides an overview of the initial development of this framework for Portugal, as well as a description of the components and input models required for the generation of the seismic input and estimation of damage. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the platform, two seismic events were considered to assess structural damage throughout mainland Portugal. This framework has been established at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. It allows earthquake engineers and seismic risk modelers to access damage information and to launch calculations of losses for scenario events. The products can also be of interest to experts and decision makers, who may wish to consider specific types of outputs such as the distribution of building damage, fatalities and the number of homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seismic vulnerability assessment of Nepalese Pagoda temples is essential as these monuments are recognized with high historical and heritage value. Many of these architectural and culture heritage are listed in UNESCO World heritage. Rigorous vulnerability assessment of these structures and the implementation of appropriate retrofitting solutions can help reduce the levels of physical damage and the economic impact of future seismic events. This paper approaches the seismic vulnerability assessment of Pagoda temples by applying a simplified methodology developed. The proposed methodology adopted in this study was based on a vulnerability index used for the evaluation of damage and the study of loss scenarios on a large scale. Over 78 Pagoda temples located in three cities of the Kathmandu valley (Nepal) were assessed using this methodology. The results of the vulnerability assessment together with the surveyed database and damage classification were integrated into a GIS tool, allowing the spatial visualation of damage scenarios, which is potentially useful for the planning of retrofitting priorities to mitigate and manage seismic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vulnerability model capable of providing the probabilistic distribution of loss ratio for a set of intensity measure levels is a fundamental tool to perform earthquake loss estimation and seismic risk assessment. The aim of the study presented herein is to develop a set of vulnerability functions for 48 reinforced concrete building typologies, categorized based on the date of construction (which has a direct relation with the design code level), number of storeys (height of the building) and seismic zonation (which affects the design of the buildings). An analytical methodology was adopted, in which thousands of nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed on 2D moment resisting frames with masonry infills, using one hundred ground motion records that are compatible, to the extent possible, with the Portuguese tectonic environment. The generation of the structural models was carried out using the probabilistic distribution of a set of geometric and material properties, compiled based on information gathered from a large sample of drawings and technical specifications of typical Portuguese reinforced concrete buildings, located in various regions in the country. Various key aspects in the development of the vulnerability model are investigated herein, such as the selection of the ground motion records, the modelling of the infilled frames, the definition of the damage criterion and the evaluation of dynamic (i.e. period of vibration) and structural (i.e. displacement and base shear capacity) parameters of the frames. A statistical bootstrap method is demonstrated to estimate the variability of the loss ratio at each intensity measure level, allowing the estimation of the mean, as well as 10 and 90 % percentile vulnerability curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of the seismic risk at a national scale represents an important resource in order to introduce measures that may reduce potential losses due to future earthquakes. This evaluation results from the combination of three components: seismic hazard, structural vulnerability and exposure data. In this study, a review of existing studies focusing on each one of these areas is carried out, and used together with data from the 2011 Building Census in Portugal to compile the required input models for the evaluation of seismic hazard and risk. In order to better characterize the epistemic uncertainty in the calculations, several approaches are considered within a logic tree structure, such as the consideration of different seismic source zonations, the employment of vulnerability functions derived based on various damage criteria and the employment of distinct spatial resolutions in the exposure model. The aim of this paper is thus to provide an overview of the recent developments regarding the different aspects that influence the seismic hazard and risk in Portugal, as well as an up-to-date identification of the regions that are more vulnerable to earthquakes, together with the expected losses for a probability of exceedance of 10 % in 50 years. The results from the present study were obtained through the OpenQuake engine, the open-source software for seismic risk and hazard assessment developed within the global earthquake model (GEM) initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nepal is located in a highly active tectonic region of the Himalayan belt, one of the most severe earthquake prone areas of the world. Nepal is lying between the Indian and the Eurasian plate, which are moving continuously, resulting in frequent devastating earthquakes. Moreover, different authors state that the accumulated slip deficit (central seismic gap) is likely to produce large earthquakes in the future. Cultural heritage buildings and monuments are, therefore, at risk, and the eventual cultural loss in the consequence of an earthquake is incalculable. Post-seismic surveys of past earthquakes have shown the potential damage that unreinforced masonry structures, particularly Pagoda temples, may suffer in future earthquakes. Most of the Nepalese Pagoda temples, erected during XIV century, are considered non-engineered constructions that follow very simple rules and construction detailing in respect to seismic resistance requirements and, in some cases, without any concern for seismic action. Presently, conservation and restoration of Nepalese temples is one of the major concerns, since they are considered world heritage with universal value. The present paper is devoted to outline particular building characteristics of the UNESCO classified Nepalese Pagoda temples and the common structural fragilities, which may affect their seismic performance. Moreover, based on a parametric sensitivity analysis, structural weaknesses and fragilities of Pagoda temples were identified associated to the local and traditional construction techniques, detailing and common damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earthquake of the 9th of July 1998 that hit in the central group of the Azores archipelago greatly affected the islands of Faial, Pico and São Jorge, reaching a magnitude of Mw 6.2 with the epicentre located about 15km northeast of the Faial Island. This earthquake allowed the collection of an unprecedented quantity of data concerning the characterisation of the building stock and the damage suffered by construction. This is the main purpose of this research, consisting essentially of three main aspects: (i) A detailed characterisation of the building stock, assigning a five category classification, from old traditional rubble stone masonry to reinforced concrete moment framed buildings; (ii) A detailed damage grade classification based on the different damage mechanisms observed; and, (iii) A seismic vulnerability assessment of the building stock. The results of the vulnerability assessment together with the building stock database and damage classification were integrated into a GIS tool, allowing the spatial visualation of damage scenarios, which is potentially useful for the planning of emergency response strategies and retrofitting priorities to mitigate and manage seismic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic risk evaluation of built-up areas involves analysis of the level of earthquake hazard of the region, building vulnerability and exposure. Within this approach that defines seismic risk, building vulnerability assessment assumes great importance, not only because of the obvious physical consequences in the eventual occurrence of a seismic event, but also because it is the one of the few potential aspects in which engineering research can intervene. In fact, rigorous vulnerability assessment of existing buildings and the implementation of appropriate retrofitting solutions can help to reduce the levels of physical damage, loss of life and the economic impact of future seismic events. Vulnerability studies of urban centres should be developed with the aim of identifying building fragilities and reducing seismic risk. As part of the rehabilitation of the historic city centre of Coimbra, a complete identification and inspection survey of old masonry buildings has been carried out. The main purpose of this research is to discuss vulnerability assessment methodologies, particularly those of the first level, through the proposal and development of a method previously used to determine the level of vulnerability, in the assessment of physical damage and its relationship with seismic intensity. Also presented and discussed are the strategy and proposed methodology adopted for the vulnerability assessment, damage and loss scenarios for the city centre of Coimbra, Portugal, using a GIS mapping application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]