DIT University, Department of Civil Engineering

PROJECT REPORT

PRASHANT JAIN
VISHAL CHAUHAN
PRERIT AGGRAWAL

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DIT University, Department of Civil Engineering

PROJECT REPORT

On

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT BUILDING

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Technology in
Civil Engineering

at

DIT University, Dehradun

By

Member 1 - Prashant jain (1301011081)

Member 2 – Prerit Aggrawal (1301011084)
Member 3 – Vishal Chauhan (1301011134 )

Under the guidance of

Moloy Sir
Assistant Proffesor
Civil Department

DIT UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

Mussoorie Diversion Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand - 248009, India.

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work in the project entitled EARTHQUAKE

RESISTANT BUILDING By PRASHANT JAIN, PRERIT AGGRAWAL, VISHAL
CHAUHAN is a record of their work carried out under my supervision
and guidance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology and
Engineering.

Moloy Sir
Assistant Professor
Civil Department

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible
without the kind support and help of many individuals and organizations. We
would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.

We would like to take the opportunity to express my humble gratitude to Prof.

Moloy Sir under whom we executed this project. His constant guidance and
willingness to share his vast knowledge made me understand this project and its
manifestations in great depths and helped me to complete the assigned tasks.

We would like to thank all faculty members and staff of the Department of
Information Technology and Engineering, DITU Dehradun for their generous help
in various ways for the completion of this thesis.

Finally, yet importantly, We would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my

beloved parents for their blessings, my friends and classmates for their help and
wishes for the successful completion of this project.

PRASHANT JAIN
PRERIT AGGRAWAL
VISHAL CHAUHAN

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DIT University, Department of Civil Engineering

ABSTRACT

Earthquakes constitute one of the greatest hazards of life

and property on the earth. Due to suddenness of their
occurrence, they are least understood and most dreaded.
The earthquake resistant construction is considered to be
very important to mitigate their effects. This paper presents
the brief essentials of earthquake resistant construction and
a few techniques to improve the resistance of building and
building materials to earthquake forces, economically.

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CONTENTS

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 HOW EARTHQUAKE RESISTENT BUILDING IS
DIFERENT?
 EFFECT OF EARTHQUAKE ON REINFORCED
CONCRETE BUILDINGS
 SEISMIC DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
 REMEDIAL MEASURES TO MINIMISE THE LOSSES DUE
TO
 EARTHQUAKES
 EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
WITH
 REINFORCED HOLLOW CONCRETE BLOCK (RHCBM)
 MID-LEVEL ISOLATION
 EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE USING SLURRY
INFILTRATED
 MAT CONCRETE (SIMCON)
 TRADITIONAL EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT HOUSING
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES

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INTRODUCTION

An earthquake is the vibration, sometimes violent to the earth’s

surface that follows a release of energy in the earth’s crust. This
energy can be generated by a sudden dislocation of segments of
the crust, by a volcanic eruption or even by a manmade explosion.
The dislocation of the crust causes most destructive earthquakes.
The crust may first bend and then the stresses exceed the strength
of rocks, they break. In the process of breaking, vibrations called
seismic waves are generated. These waves travel outward from
the source of the earthquake along the surface and through the
earth at varying speeds depending on the material through which
they move. These waves can cause disasters on the earth’s
surface.
No structure on the planet can be constructed 100% earthquake
proof; only its resistance to earthquake can be increased.
Treatment is required to be given depending on the zone in which
the particular site is located. Earthquake occurred in the recent past
have raised various issues and have forced us to think about the
disaster management. It has
become essential to think right from planning stage to completion
stage of a structure to avoid failure or to minimize the loss of
property. Not only this, once the earthquake has occurred and
disaster has taken place; how to use the debris to construct
economical houses using this waste material without affecting their
structural stability.

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HOW EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT CONSTRUCTION IS

DIFFERENT ?

Since the magnitude of a future earthquake and shaking

intensity expected at a particular site cannot be estimated with a
reasonable accuracy, the seismic forces are difficult to quantify for
the purposes of design. Further, the actual forces that can be
generated in the structure during an earthquake are very large and
designing the structure to respond elastically against these forces
make it too expensive.
Therefore, in the earthquake resistant design post yield
inelastic behavior is usually relied upon to dissipate the input
seismic energy. Thus the design forces of earthquakes may be only
a fraction of maximum (probable) forces generated if the structure
is to remain elastic during the earthquake. For instance, the design
seismic for buildings may at times be as low as one tenths of the
maximum elastic seismic force. Thus, the earthquake resistant
construction and design does not aim to achieve a structure that
will not get damaged in a strong earthquake having low probability
of occurrence; it aims to have a structure that will perform
appropriately and without collapse in the event of such a shaking.
Ductility is the capacity of the structure to undergo
deformation beyond yield without loosing much of its load carrying
capacity. Higher is the ductility of the structure; more is the
reduction possible in its design seismic force over what one gets
for linear elastic response. Ensuring ductility in a structure is a
major concern in a seismic construction.

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EFFECT OF EARTHQUAKE ON REINFORCED

CONCRETE BUILDINGS:

In recent times, reinforced concrete buildings have

become common in India. A typical RC building is made of
horizontal members (beams and slabs) and vertical members
(columns and walls) and supported by foundations that rest on the
ground. The system consisting of RC columns and connecting
beams is called a RC frame.

The RC frame participates in resisting earthquake

forces. Earthquake shaking generates inertia forces in the building,
which are proportional to the building mass. Since most of the
building mass is present at the floor levels, earthquake induced
inertia forces primarily develop at the floor levels. These forces
travel downward through slabs to beams, beams to columns and
walls and then to foundations from where they are dispersed to the
ground. As the inertia forces accumulate downward from the top of
the building (as shown in fig3.1), the columns and walls at the lower
storey experience higher earthquake induced forces and are
therefore designed to be stronger than the storey above.

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Roles of floor slabs and masonry walls:

Floor slabs are horizontal like elements, which facilitates functional

use of buildings. Usually, beams and slabs at one storey level are
cast together. In residential multistoried buildings, the thickness of
slab is only about 110mm-150mm. when beams bend in vertical
direction during earthquakes, these thin slabs bend along with
them. When beams move in horizontal direction, the slab usually
forces the beams to move together with it.

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In most of the buildings, the geometric distortion of the

slab is negligible in the horizontal plane; the behavior is known as
rigid diaphragm action. After columns and floors in a RC building
are cast and the concrete hardens, vertical spaces between
columns and floors are usually filled in with masonry walls to
demarcate a floor area into functional spaces. Normally, these
masonry walls are called infill walls, are not connected to
surrounding RC beams and columns. When the columns receive
horizontal forces at floor levels, they try to move in the horizontal
direction, but masonry wall tend to resist this movement.
Due to their heavy weight and thickness, these walls
develop cracks once their ability to carry horizontal load is
exceeded. Thus, infill walls act like sacrificial fuses in the buildings,
they develop crack under severe ground shaking but help share
the load the load of beams and columns until cracking.

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Strength hierarchy:

For a building to remain safe during earthquake shaking columns

(which receive forces from beams) should be stronger than beams
and foundations (which receive forces from columns) should be
stronger than columns. Further the connections between beams
and columns, columns and foundations should not fail so that
beams can safely transfer forces to columns and columns to
foundations.
When this strategy is adopted in the design, damage is likely to
occur first in beams. When beams are detailed properly to have
large ductility, the building as a whole can deform by large amounts
despite progressive damage caused due to consequent yielding of
beams.
If columns are made weaker, localized damage can lead
to the collapse of building, although columns at storey above
remain almost undamaged.

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SEISMIC DESIGN PHILOSOPHY:

Severity of ground shaking at a given location during earthquake

can be minor, moderate and strong. Relatively speaking, minor
shaking occurs frequently; moderate shaking occasionally and
strong shaking rarely. For instance, on average annually about 800
earthquakes of magnitude 5.0-5.9 occurs in the world, while the
number is only 18 for the magnitude ranges 7.0-7.9. Since it costs
money to provide additional earthquake safety in buildings, a
conflict arises ‘should we do away with the design of buildings for
earthquake effects? Or should we design the building to be
earthquake proof wherein there is no damage during strong but
rare earthquake shaking.

Clearly the formal approach can lead to a major disaster and

second approach is too expensive. Hence the design philosophy
should lie somewhere in between two extremes.

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Earthquake resistant building:

The engineers do not attempt to make earthquake proof buildings

that will not get damaged even during the rare but strong
earthquake; such buildings will be too robust and also too
expensive. Instead, engineering intention is to make buildings
earthquake resistant, such building resists the effects of ground
shaking, although they may get damaged severely but would not
collapse during the strong earthquake. Thus, safety of peoples and
contents is assured in earthquake resistant buildings and thereby,
a disaster is avoided. This is a major objective of seismic design
codes through the world.

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Earthquake design philosophy:

The earthquake design philosophy may be summarized as follows:

· Under minor, but frequent shaking, the main members of the
building that carry vertical and horizontal forces should not be
damaged; however the building parts that do not carry load may
sustain repairable damage.
· Under moderate but occasional shaking, the main member may
sustain repairable damage, but the other parts of the building may
be damaged such that they may even have to be replaced after the
earthquake.
· Under strong but rare shaking, may sustain severe (even
irreparable) damage, but the building should not collapse.

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Thus after minor shaking, the building will be operational within a

short time and repair cost will be small and after moderate shaking,
the building will be operational once the repair and strengthening
of the

damaged main members is completed. But, after a strong

earthquake, the building may become disfunctional for further use,
but will stand so that people can be evacuated and property
recovered.
The consequences of damage have to be kept in view in the design
philosophy. For example, important buildings like hospitals and fire
stations play a critical role in post earthquake activities and must
remain functional immediately after earthquake. These structures
must sustain very little damage and should be designed for a higher
level of earthquake protection. Collapse of dams during earthquake
can cause flooding in the downstream reaches, which itself can be
a secondary disaster. Therefore, dams and nuclear power plants
should be designed for still higher level of earthquake motion.

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REMEDIAL MEASURES TO MINIMISE THE LOSSES

DUE TO EARTHQUAKES:

Whenever a building project is prepared and designed, the first and

the most important aspect of design is to know the zone to which
this structure is likely to rest. Depending upon these, precautionary
measures in structural design calculation are considered and
structure can be constructed with sufficient amount of resistance to
earthquake forces. Various measures to be adopted are explained
pointwise, giving emphasis to increase earthquake resistance of
buildings.

Building planning:

The records of various earthquake failures reveal that

unsymmetrical structure performs poorly during earthquake. The
unsymmetrical building usually develops torsion due to seismic
forces, which causes development of crack leading to collapse of
a structure. Building therefore should be constructed rectangular
and symmetrical in plan. If a building has to be planned in irregular
or unsymmetrical shape, it should be treated as the combination of
a few rectangular blocks connected with passages. It will avoid
torsion and will increase resistance of building to earthquake
forces.

Foundation:

IS code recommends that as far as possible entire building should

be founded on uniform soil strata. It is basically to avoid differential

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settlement. In case if loads transmitted on different column and

column footing varies, foundation should be designed to have
uniform settlement by changing foundation size as per code
conditions to have a loading intensity for uniform settlement.
Raft foundation performs better for seismic forces. If piles are
driven to some depth over which a raft is constructed (raft cum pile
foundation), the behaviour of foundation under seismic load will be
far better. Piles will take care of differential settlement with raft and
resistance of structure to earthquake forces will be very large.

Provision of band:

IS code recommends construction of concrete band at lintel level

to resist earthquake. The studies revealed that building with band
at lintel level and one at plinth level improves load carrying of
building to earthquake tremendously. It is suggested here that if
bands are plinth level, sill level, lintel level and roof level in the case
of masonry structure only, the resistance of building to earthquake
will increase tremendously. Band at sill level should go with vertical
band and door openings to meet at lintel level. Hold fast of doors
can be fitted in their sill band. In case of earthquake of very high
intensity or large duration only infill wall between walls will fail
minimizing casualties and sudden collapse of structure. People will
get sufficient time to escape because of these bands.

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Arches and domes:

Behavior of arches has been found very unsatisfactory during

earthquake. However domes perform very satisfactory due to
symmetrical in nature. Arches during earthquake have tendency to
separate out and collapse. Mild steel ties if provided at the ends,
their resistance can be increased to a considerable extent.

Staircases:

These are the worst affected part of any building during

earthquake. Studies reveal that this is mainly due to differential
displacement of connected floors. This can be avoided by providing
open joints at each floor at the stairway to eliminate bracing effect.

Beam column joints:

In framed structures the monolithic beam column connections are

desirable so as to accommodate reversible deformations. The
maximum moments occur at beam-column junction. Therefore
most of the ductility requirements should be provided at the ends.
Therefore spacing of ties in column is restricted to 100mm centre
and in case of beam strips and rings should be closely spaced near
the joints. The spacing should be restricted to 100mm centre to
centre only near the supports. In case of columns, vertical ties are
provided; performance of columns to earthquake forces can be
increased to a considerable extent.
Steel columns for tall buildings ie buildings more than 8 storey
height should be provided as their performance is better than
concrete column due to ductility behavior of material.

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Masonry building:

Mortar plays an important role in masonry construction. Mortar

possessing adequate strength should only be used. Studies reveal
that a cement sand ratio of 1:5 or 1:6 is quite strong as well as
economical also. If reinforcing bars are put after 8 to 10 bricklayers,
their performance to earthquake is still better. Other studies have
revealed that masonry infill should not be considered as non-
structural element. It has been seen that in case of column bars are
provided with joints at particular level about 600-700mm above
floor level at all storey should be staggered. It may be working as
a weak zone at complete floor level in that storey.

As such if few measures are adopted during stages of design and

construction of building their resistance to earthquake forces can
be improved considerably. Though buildings cannot be made
100% earthquake proof but their resistance to seismic forces can
be improved to minimize loss of property and human life during the
tremors.

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EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT BUILDING

CONSTRUCTION WITH REINFORCED HOLLOW
CONCRETE BLOCK (RHCBM)

Reinforced hollow concrete blocks are designed both as load-

bearing walls for gravity loads and also as shear walls for lateral
seismic loads, to safely withstand the earthquakes. This structural
system of construction is known as shear wall-diaphragm concept,
which gives three-dimensional structural integrity for the buildings.

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Structural features:

· Each masonry element is vertically reinforced with steel bars

and concrete grouts fill, at regular intervals, through the continuous
vertical cavities of hollow blocks.
· Similarly, each masonry element is horizontally reinforced with
steel bars and concrete grout fills at plinth, sill, lintel and roof levels,
as continuous RC bands using U-shaped concrete blocks in the
masonry course, at repetitive levels.
· Grid of reinforcement can be built into each masonry element
without the requirement of any extra shuttering and it reduces the
scope of corrosion of the reinforcement.
· As the reinforcement bars in both vertical and horizontal
directions can be continued into the roof slab and lateral walls
respectively, the structural integrity in all three dimensions is
achieved.

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Structural advantages:

· In this construction system, structurally, each wall and slab

behaves as a shear wall and a diaphragm respectively, reducing
the vulnerability of disastrous damage to the structure during
natural hazards.
· Due to the uniform distribution of reinforcement in both vertical
and horizontal directions, through each masonry element,
increased tensile resistance and ductile behavior of elements could
be achieved. Hence the construction system can safely resist
lateral or cyclic loading, when compared to other masonry
construction systems. This construction system has also been
proved to offer better resistance under dynamic loading, when
compared to the other conventional systems of construction.

Constructional advantages:

· No additional formwork or any special construction machinery

is required for reinforcing the hollow block masonry.
· Only semi-skilled labour is required for this type of construction.
· It is faster and easier construction system, when compared to
the other conventional construction systems.
· It is also found to be cost-effective.

Architectural and other advantages:

· This constructional system provides better acoustic and thermal

insulation for the building.
· This system is durable and maintenance free.
Studies on the comparative cost economics of RHCBM:

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There is a general apprehension that the RHCBM would be a

costlier system, as it advocates reinforcing and use of concrete
grout in the hollow spaces within the masonry. To dispel the
apprehension, the relative cost economics of RHCBM structures
are worked out in comparison with conventional construction
systems.

Structural scheme cost per sq.m in Rs.

Reinforced hollow concrete block masonry Rs.1822
RC framed structure with brick masonry infill Rs.1845
Load bearing masonry Rs.1782

RHCBM has structural advantages of lighter dead weight and

increased floor area. These advantages are quantitatively worked
out from the fact that, RHCBM is built of 20cm thick hollow block
wall, when compared to the 23cm thick one brick wall of RCC
framed structure and 34cm thick one and half brick wall of load
bearing structure.

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MID-LEVEL ISOLATION

This includes mid-level isolation system installed while

the buildings are still being used. This new method entails
improving and classifying the columns on intermediate floors of an
existing building into flexible columns that incorporate rubber
bearings (base isolation systems) and rigid columns which have
been wrapped in steel plates to add to their toughness. A
combination of these two types of columns is then used to improve
the earthquake-resistant performance of the building as a whole
This is the first method of improving earthquake
resistance in Japan that classifies the columns on the same floor
as flexible columns and rigid columns, and it is the first case in west
Japan (the Kansai region) of attaching rubber bearings by cutting
columns on the intermediate floors an existing building. This
method involves improving earthquake resistance while the
buildings are still being used as normal operations.
There are three types of base isolation systems,
depending on the location where rubber bearings are incorporated:
· Pile head isolation
· Foundation isolation
· Mid-level isolation
By cutting horizontally all columns and walls on a specific
intermediate floor and installing rubber bearings in the columns that
have been cut, that floor becomes extremely flexible, and the
building will sway horizontally with the large sway amplitude of 40-
50 centimeters under maximum level earthquakes. It therefore
becomes possible that the finishing materials, piping and existing
elevators may not be able to keep pace with the deformations and
break, perhaps resulting in their protruding from the site of the
building.

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In the head office of Himeji Shinkin Bank, columns

with rubber bearings incorporated in them to allow them to move
flexibly and rigid columns which were made tougher by wrapping
steel plate were placed effectively, thereby suppressing horizontal
deformation and improving the earthquake resistance of the
building as a whole.
Vibration control units incorporating viscous materials with high
energy absorption performance were installed in walls, to play the
role of dampers. This reduced the swaying of the building. Mid-level
isolation procedure is shown in the fig.

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EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE USING SLURRY

INFILTRATED MAT CONCRETE (SIMCON)

Following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey this

summer that killed as many as 20,000 people and injured another
27,000, images of survivors trapped beneath the rubble of
collapsed buildings appeared daily in news reports worldwide. Now
a North Carolina State University engineer is developing a new
type of concrete to help prevent such scenes from happening
again. Because it's reinforced with mats made of thousands of
stainless steel fibers injected with special concrete slurry, the new
material, called Slurry Infiltrated Mat Concrete (SIMCON), can
sustain much higher stress loads and deformations than traditional
concrete. Tests show that concrete buildings or bridges reinforced
with SIMCON are far more earthquake-resistant and less likely to
break apart in large chunks that fall off and cause injury to people
below.

If extreme stresses cause SIMCON to fail, its mass of

fibers and concrete doesn't collapse in the same way traditional
concrete does. Instead of large chunks breaking and falling from a
structure, the material crumbles into small, harmless flakes. This
controlled form of failure is a key advantage of SIMCON. Because
failure is inevitable in all structures, engineers must design
buildings and bridges to fail in the safest way. In conventional
concrete structures, this is achieved through the use of steel
reinforcing bars -- rebars -- that give the concrete tensile strength
it would otherwise lack. For safety and design reasons, the
concrete is designed so that the rebars will fail before the concrete
does. Unfortunately, many structures have not been designed to
sustain the powerful stresses caused by earthquakes. When such
extreme stresses occur, the concrete can crack, explode and break

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away from the rebars, causing the structure to collapse.

By contrast, failure of SIMCON would present little danger to
people or property below.

TRADITIONAL EARTHQUAKE REISTANT HOUSING

Earthquakes are not common phenomena in most parts

of the world. Hence, houses in most rural areas are not built to
withstand seismic forces, resulting in heavy causalities even in
moderate quakes. In some parts of the world, however, where
earthquakes are common, people have incorporated the critical
elements of quake-resistance in their traditional construction
method. Traditional house building techniques have successfully
demonstrated, during past earthquakes in the Himalayan region,
that there is inherent after component associated with the
constructional design. This was found during the 1905 Kangra
earthquake, the traditional Kat-Ki Kunni houses in Kullu valley
made up of timber remained unaffected. The Dhajji-Diwari
buildings remained intact in the 1885 Srinagar earthquake.
Similarly, in Uttarkashi the traditional 100 years old multistoried
buildings called Pherols have incorporated basic features of
earthquake resistance.

The Pherols of Uttarkashi:

Pherols are old traditionally built multistoried structures

found in Uttarkashi district. The main materials of constructions are
stone and wood with mud mortar. The construction is essentially
coarse-rubble masonry type. The various earthquake resistant

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features in these types of houses are the use of wooden

tie-bands as beams and vertical timber columns as pins to tie the
inside and
outside Wyeths of a wall. Long stones with flat surfaces
are distributed in the walls to make the loads vertical in the wall
units and minimize the tendency of the wall stones to push or run
outward. Moreover, to distribute some of the seismic load vertically
corner reinforcements are provided by the use of wooden blocks
and long flat stones. Also, the height of the floor is kept low and
there are minimum numbers of openings, for keeping the centre of
gravity low and also for the insulation purposes.

The Dhajji-Diwari buildings of Kashmir:

The Dhajji-Diwari buildings were the one that survived when part of
the palace and other massive old building collapsed in the Srinagar
quake of 1885. The most significant aspect of the Dhajji-Diwari
buildings is the combination of the building materials used. These
materials are locally available and have been used for generations.
The basic elements in these buildings are the load bearing
masonry piers and infill walls. There are wooden tie-bands at each
floor level. The foundation consists of rubble masonry with lime
mortar whereas; mud mortar is used for the rest of the structure.

The infill materials are usually abode bricks bonded with

mud mortar. The wooden bands tie the walls of the structure with
the floors and also impart ductility to a structure that is otherwise
brittle. The unreinforced masonry walls have stiffness but not
strength. In the absence of strength, flexibility is essential for quake
resistance. Here, the desired flexibility is provided by the
combination of wood and unreinforced masonry laid in a wear
mortar. The wooden beams tie the whole house together and
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ensure that the entire building sways together as one unit

in an earthquake.

The Kat-Ki- Kunni Buildings of Kulu Valley:

Similar to the Pherols and the Dhajji-Diwari buildings, the

Kat-Ki-Kunni or timber cornered buildings suffered minimal
damage in the epicentral tract of Kulu Valley during the 1905
Kangra earthquake. This structure is almost identical to the Pherols
of Uttarkashi. It combines the weight, solidity and coolness of a
stone building with the flexibility and earthquake-resisting qualities
of a wooden one. Here the wood bonding takes place at vertical
intervals of three to five feet. Two parallel beams are laid along with
layer of masonry, one on the inside and one on the outside. At the
end of one wall the beams cross them on the walls at right angle,
and the wooden pins hold the crossing together. Crossties of wood
similarly hold the two parallel beams in position at intervals along
their length.

Quincha earthquake resistant buildings:

Following a devastating earthquake in the Alto Mayo

region of Peru in 1990 ITDG's Shelter Programme became
involved in a major reconstruction project to build earthquake
resistant housing using 'improved quincha' - a timber and lattice
frame design with an earth infill - based on traditional technologies.
Traditional quincha building technology results in a flexible

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structure with an inherent earthquake resistance. It has been used

in parts of Peru for many centuries. Traditionally, a quincha house

would have a round pole set directly in the ground; in filled with
smaller wooden poles and interwoven to form a matrix, which is
then plastered with one or more layers of earth. ITDG worked
closely with builders, householders and community organisations
in Alto Mayo to introduce improved, earthquake resistant building
technology - quincha mejorada.
Improved quincha had the following characteristics over and above
traditional quincha:
 Concrete foundations for greater stability.
 Wooden columns treated with tar or pitch to protect against
humidity, concreted into the ground with nails embedded in the
wood at the base to give extra anchorage.
 Using concrete wall bases to prevent humidity affecting the
wood and the canes in the walls.
Careful jointing between columns and beams to improve structural
integrity.
 Canes woven in a vertical fashion to provide greater stability.
 Lightweight metal sheet roofing to reduce danger of falling
tiles.
 Nailing roofing material to roof beams; tying of beams and
columns with roof wires.

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 DIT University, Department of Civil Engineering

CONCLUSIONS

· There is a lack of awareness in the earthquake disaster

mitigations. Avoiding non-engineered structures with unskilled
labour even in unimportant temporary constructions can help a
great way.
· Statewide awareness programmes have to be conducted by fully
exploiting the advancement in the information technology.
· Urgent steps are required to be taken to make the codal provisions
regarding earthquake resistant construction undebatable.

 The builders and constructors should adopt the codal

provisions in all the future construction, as prevention is better than
cure. On the light of avoiding the risk, this may not be an impossible
task as earthquake resistant measures in building involves only
 2%-6% additional cost depending on the type of building.
Using construction techniques like SIMCON and RHCBM can not
only mitigate earthquake effects but also are cost effective.

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 DIT University, Department of Civil Engineering

REFERENCES

1. Chopra.R, Kumar.R, Chawla.K.S, T.P.Singh, “Traditional

Earthquake Resistant Houses”, Honey Bee, Vol 11&Vol 12,Oct
2000-Nov 2001.
2. Deodhar.S.V, Dubey.S.K, “Remedial Measures Against
Earthquake disaster”, National Building Material and Construction
World, Vol 2, Jan 2003, Pg 52-56.
3. Earthquake Tip 8, “What is seismic design philosophy?”,
Indian Concrete Journal, Jan 2004, Vol 2.
4. Earthquake Tip 17, “How do earthquakes affect reinforced
concrete buildings?” Indian Concrete Journal, April 2004, Vol 1.
5. Indian Standard IS 1893-20
6. www.google.com
7. www.wikipedia.com

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