DOI: 10.7277/z82f-0728
title: 2015 Nepal Earthquake Building Performance Database

description: &lt;br/&gt; This database was last updated July 16, 2015. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;b&gt;Note&lt;/b&gt;: Data from more buildings will be added to this database in the near future. &lt;br/&gt; &lt;b&gt;Note&lt;/b&gt;: Data were also collected for 28 high rise reinforced concrete structures in Kathmandu, Nepal. A database with high-rise RC building data will be published at &lt;a href="/resources/242" target="_blank"&gt;Performance of High-Rise Reinforced Concrete Buildings in the 2015 Nepal Earthquake&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; On April 25, 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in Nepal. It caused more than 8500 casualties and left over 22,000 people injured. Another major earthquake of magnitude 7.3 occurred in Nepal on May 12, 2015. Thousands of buildings were destroyed and many more rendered unsafe. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;table&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td &gt;&lt;a href="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal1-1.JPG" target="_blank"&gt; &lt;img class="contentimg" src="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal1.jpg" height="270" alt="image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;td &gt;&lt;a href="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal2-1.JPG" target="_blank"&gt; &lt;img class="contentimg" src="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal2.jpg" height="270" alt="image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td &gt; &lt;a href="/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal3-1.JPG" target="_blank"&gt; &lt;img class="contentimg" src="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal3.jpg" height="270" alt="image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Detailed surveys and inspections of reinforced concrete structures affected by the earthquakes in Nepal were conducted in a reconnaissance effort funded by The American Concrete Institute. The effort was concentrated on identification of buildings with structures similar to new and older reinforced concrete buildings in seismic areas in the U.S. The reconnaissance group consisted of 4 teams (A, B, C and D) with 3 or 4 people in each team. Data were collected between June 18, 2015 and July 01, 2015. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;center&gt; &lt;img class="contentimg" src="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/aci.jpg" width = "320" alt="image" /&gt; &lt;/center&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;div&gt; &lt;table&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td width="50%"&gt; &lt;a href="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/maplow.png" target="_blank"&gt; &lt;img alt="image" class="contentimg" src="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepalmap.png" style="float:left; width:500px" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td width="50%" &gt; This database contains information on 146 low-rise reinforced concrete buildings with and without masonry infill walls inspected in Kathmandu, Nepal. Building plans, dimensions, photographs and GPS coordinates were collected for buildings that were inspected. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Damage level is depicted on the map as follows: Severe Damage in Red, Moderate Damage in Yellow and Light Damage in Green. It was observed that damage concentrated towards the edge of the valley, along the foothills. Little to no damage to reinforced concrete structures was found in the middle of the valley. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; The Google Earth (.kml) file for the map shown can be downloaded under the supporting documents tab. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt; &lt;table&gt; &lt;tr&gt; &lt;td width="50%"&gt; &lt;a href="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/group1.JPG" target="_blank"&gt; &lt;img alt="image" class="contentimg" src="/app/site/resources/2015/07/00238/nepal4.jpg" style="float:left; width:500px" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;td width="50%"&gt; The following people are gratefully acknowledged for their help with data collection: Mukund Prasad Sah, Kamal Baral, Bishnu Paudel, Robin Guragain, Prakash Nepal, Ujjwal Karki, Amit Kumar Sah, Ajay Kumar Karna, Prakash Mishra, Sewak Pandit, Hari Krishna Dhamala, Tirtha Raj Timilsina, Bharat Budhathoki, Bipesh Shrestha, Shailesh Bhattarai, Radhey Shyam Chaudhary and Niranjan Shrestha. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Sincere thanks to the following for facilitating the data collection process: &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Ministry of Urban Planning, Government of Nepal&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Government of Nepal&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Shah Consult International (P.) Ltd.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Dr. Sanjiv Shah&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Poonam Shah&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;/td&gt; &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/table&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;br/&gt; This database is presented as a spreadsheet with each row containing the following information for a building: &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Title:&lt;/b&gt; Title of the project, group of experiments, simulations or surveys&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Source:&lt;/b&gt; Names of the people who generated the data&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Keywords:&lt;/b&gt; Words describing the dataset&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Report(s):&lt;/b&gt; Related documentation&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Experiment or Case ID:&lt;/b&gt; ID assigned by the source to the sample, specimen, case, survey, site, experiment or simulation&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Latitude:&lt;/b&gt; Latitude of the location where data was collected, if applicable&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Longitude:&lt;/b&gt; Longitude of the location where data was collected, if applicable&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Parameters:&lt;/b&gt; Variables and parameters chosen by the researcher, compiler, professional or scientific organization to describe the data&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Drawings/Diagrams:&lt;/b&gt; Drawing and diagrams helpful to interpret the data&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Data:&lt;/b&gt; Data files generated through project. Tabular text format is preferred&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Photos, Videos, etc.: &lt;/b&gt; Media files including photos, videos, audio generated through project&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Compiled by:&lt;/b&gt; Names of the people who compiled the data&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Date:&lt;/b&gt; Date when the dataset was compiled&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; In addition, the following information is presented in the parameter column: &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Event&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Building ID&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Priority Index (Hassan Index, %): &lt;br/&gt;   PI = WI + CI (where, WI = Wall Index, CI = Column Index) &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;No. of Floors&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Ground Floor Area (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Total Floor Area (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Column Area (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Concrete Wall Area (NS) (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Concrete Wall Area (EW) (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Masonry Wall Area (NS) (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Masonry Wall Area (EW) (m2)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Structural Damage - Four classes of damage&lt;br/&gt; a) Light: Hairline (crack width not exceeding approximate 0.13 mm) inclined and flexural cracks were observed in structural elements.&lt;br/&gt; b) Moderate: Wider cracks or spalling of concrete was observed.&lt;br/&gt; c) Severe: At least one element had a structural failure.&lt;br/&gt; d) Collapse: At least one floor slab or part of it lost its elevation.&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Masonry Wall Damage - Damage to infill walls classified as follows:&lt;br/&gt; a) Light: Hairline cracks occurred.&lt;br/&gt; b) Moderate: Wider cracks appeared or large pieces of plaster flaked off.&lt;br/&gt; c) Severe: The element collapsed or cracks wide enough to see through the wall appeared.&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Captive Columns: Are there captive columns?&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Column Index (%)&lt;br/&gt;    CI = 0.5 Acol/Af *100%&lt;br/&gt;   where,&lt;br/&gt;   Acol: the sum of cross-sectional areas of all columns at ground floor.&lt;br/&gt;   Af: total floor area above ground level&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Wall Index (NS) (%)&lt;br/&gt;   WI = (Acw + 0.1Amw)/Af *100%&lt;br/&gt;   where,&lt;br/&gt;   Acw: the sum of cross-sectional areas of reinforced concrete walls in north-south direction at ground floor&lt;br/&gt;   Amw: the sum of cross-sectional areas of infill masonry walls in north-south direction at ground floor&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Wall Index (EW) (%)&lt;br/&gt;   WI = (Acw + 0.1Amw)/Af *100%&lt;br/&gt;   where,&lt;br/&gt;   Acw: the sum of cross-sectional areas of reinforced concrete walls in east-west direction at ground floor&lt;br/&gt;   Amw: the sum of cross-sectional areas of infill masonry walls in east-west direction at ground floor&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Min WI (%)&lt;br/&gt;   Minimum Wall Index&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Priority Index (Hassan Index, %)&lt;br/&gt;   PI = WI + CI&lt;br/&gt;   where, WI = Wall Index, CI = Column Index&lt;br/&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;nb:citations&gt;&lt;/nb:citations&gt;