| Popis: |
India, being a large country, faces continuous threat from natural or manmade disasters in different parts of the country. Earthquake disaster is one such challenge which is sudden and leaves no time for preparation unlike others such as flood or hurricane where advance warning is possible. Earthquake risk reduction requires knowledge of likely consequences of an earthquake in the region or area of interest. Since the impact of earthquakes is strongly dependent on the strength of constructions in the affected area, realistic assessment is feasible only if the nature of constructions and their ability to withstand earthquakes is known. As a result, it is imperative to know about the different types of building constructions in the country and their seismic vulnerability, i.e., expected performance during earthquakes. Use of this knowledge when formulating earthquake risk reduction programs will not only help to reduce human and economic loss, but also to decide the long term actions to increase earthquake resistance of the built environment. Since the construction practices vary greatly in different parts of India even when using the same construction material, the vulnerability function of different buildings may differ, thus field survey is required to assess the construction practices and their variation for various building types. This paper presents a summary of a series of field surveys carried out by the authors in Western India. It includes survey findings for Bhuj region of Gujarat state and Goa state. A comparative analysis of building types and the quality of construction have also been discussed. |
