Visual inspection and detail evaluation for earthquake disaster mitigation

Abstract

Malaysia is considered as a very low seismic region country. However countries that border Malaysia such as Indonesia and Philippines are the two most seismically active countries with frequent earthquakes. The close proximity of these countries means that Malaysia is prone to risk of distance earthquakes. As such, anticipated problem associated with earthquakes must be dealt with. There is several problems expected need to be justified in this disaster phenomenon. Area of higher risk to be affected by earthquake need to be identified. To date, many building in Malaysia are not designed to withstand seismic load which means that they are susceptible to collapse in the event of earthquakes. School buildings contain large numbers of public user during most of the times. A sustainable approach of visual assessment and detailed analysis are needed to ensure the school building sustainability towards an earthquake threat. An ATC-21 evaluation and a finite element analysis were performed on a 4 storey standard school building in order to evaluate its performance should it be subjected to seismic waves. Results from the analysis were used to compare with the structures actual capacity and a potential improvement to the building can be identified. The assessment methods engaged no destructive in-situ test and the cost involved in the assessment are kept to a minimum. The final outcome of the study produces a guideline and database that served as a potential maintenance proposal and reference for engineering community in the future.