Seismic risk reduction in northern Pakistan

This paper presents studies aimed at reducing seismic risk in northern Pakistan. The unreinforced masonry buildings, in parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces, are classified as non-engineered structures. The presence of a large proportion of these buildings is a challenge from an earthquake safety perspective. A scaled model of a typical two-storey stone masonry building was dynamically tested using a shaking table. The observed behaviour of the model indicated that the damage concentrated in the in-plane walls of the first storey of the model. The seismic response of the second storey was different and it did not suffer any noticeable damage. On the basis of the observed behaviour, four damage states were identified for the model corresponding to different earthquake intensities.