Earthquake Disaster Reduction: Masonry Building, Design and Construction

Contents: Preface. 1. Earthquake hazard in India. 2. Design of structures against earthquake motions. 3. Rational seismic coefficients for earthquake resistant design. 4. Determination of isoacceleration lines by sliding and overturning of objects. 5. Concepts and techniques for seismic base-isolation of structures. 6. Isolator parameters for earthquake response reduction. 7. Vulnerability and risk of damage to masonry buildings in India. 8. Behaviour of buildings and foundations during earthquakes. 9. Building construction before and after earthquake. 10. Design and construction of Masonry buildings in seismic areas. 11. Construction of small buildings in seismic areas. 12. Experimental evaluation of aseismic strengthening methods of brick buildings. 13. Dynamic testing of brick building models. 14. A new concept for resistance of masonry buildings in severe earthquake shocks. 15. Simplified guidelines for all new buildings in the seismic zones of India. 16. Seismic analysis of experimental buildings. 17. An earthquake resistant as well as economical brick building system. 18. Dynamic response of multistoreyed brick buildings. 19. Seismic isolation of masonry buildings  -- an experimental study. 20. Rapid visual seismic screening of buildings. 21. Seismic assessment of masonry buildings. 22. Damage scenario of a hypothetical 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh. 23. Repair, restoration and retrofitting of masonry buildings. 24. Repair and strengthening of damaged stone houses after Dhamar Earthquake of 1982. Index. 

"The saying goes "Earthquakes Don't Kill, Buildings Do". Correctly speaking, only the buildings of unsafe design and construction collapse under earthquake impact, thereby killing the inmates. But those constructed with proper earthquake resisting features neither collapse nor kill. The author has carried out research and development studies in regard to such buildings, starting in 1960, and has developed safe building construction methods based on structural analyses and extensive laboratory tests. Wherever these were used in the construction of new buildings as in the Manery Bhali Project and ITBP colony at Mahitanda in Uttaranchal, no building collapsed, not even in the Uttarkashi earthquake epicentral region. The author has also developed simple methods of introducing earthquake safety elements at critical points of the existing unsafe buildings to upgrade their strength to the level of non-collapse under postulated maximum earthquake intensities in different seismic zones of India. These have been practically applied to thousands of buildings in the post-earthquake situation in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttaranchal.

The book includes in different chapters, the know-how about the earthquake occurrences, their effect on non-engineered buildings, principles and details of earthquake resistant design, procedure for assessment of seismic safety of exiting masonry buildings and method of upgrading their earthquake safety by retrofitting.

The book should be found useful not only by students and researchers of the subject but also by the householders to construct new dwelling, or to look at their own dwellings for improving the earthquake safety. The extra cost involved on account of earthquake resistant features in new constructions may vary only from 2.5 to 6% in Zones III to V. The retrofitting cost of existing masonry buildings varies from 5% to 12%. These small extra costs will ensure full desirable earthquake safety of the buildings and the inmates." (jacket)