## 2 Background of the Selected Earthquakes  
The study of structures affected by the Ecuador, Haiti, Nepal, and South Korean earthquakes has been supplemented by the data archived in the open-access database of the Datacenterhub platform [39], along with the data collected from the investigations by different research groups on that platform [40; 41; 42; 43]. In this particular study, the earthquake in Ecuador that occurred on 16 April 2016, has been considered, which additionally caused a tsunami, primarily affecting the coastal zone of Manabi. The catastrophic earthquake and tsunami had resulted in widespread devastation of infrastructure, with around 663 deaths [44]. The American Concrete Institute (ACI) research team, in collaboration with the technical staff and students of the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL), performed a detailed survey to generate a memorandum of damaged RC structures affected due to the earthquake [41]. The earthquake data have been recorded at stations placed primarily upon two different soil profiles, namely APO1, the IGN strong-motion station's location, and Los Tamarindos. APO1 consists of both alluvial soils with an average shear wave velocity at the height of 30 m, Vs30 of 240 m/s, while Los Tamarindos consist of alluvial clay and silt deposits with a Vs30 of 220 m/s [45]. The Haiti earthquake, which occurred on 12 January 2010, has been considered for this assessment. Seismologists from the University of Purdue, Washington University, and Kansas University, in cooperation with research workers from Universite d'Etat d'Haiti, had surveyed and compiled the data of 145 RC buildings that had been affected by the earthquake [46]. The data had been collected meticulously from the southern and northern plain of Leogane city, west of Port-au-Prince, where the structural damage was the most severe. In the affected region, soil properties indicate granular alluvial fans and soft clay soils, respectively [47]. The ShakeMap of the U.S. Geological Survey indicates the ground motion at Leogane having an intensity of IX and Port-au-Prince having intensity VIII [48]. Moreover, another devastating earthquake that has also been assessed in the current study is the Nepal Earthquake in May 2015. This earthquake caused massive devastation of the land and supplementary, long-term effects such as the resultant landslides of the earthquake continuing to pose immediate and long-term hazards to the affected area's life and infrastructure [49]. Surveys conducted by the researchers from Purdue University and Nagoya Institute of Technology in association with the ACI resulted in collecting and compiling data of damage of 135 low-rise reinforced concrete buildings with or without masonry infill walls [43]. The Kathmandu valley has a soil profile consisting primarily a heterogeneous mixture of clays, sands, and silts with thicknesses ranging up to nearly 400 m [50]. The U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMap recorded a ground motion intensity of VIII, with the epicenter being 19 Km to the South-East of Kodari. It has been investigated that the site-specific design spectrum and ground motion intensity have a significant effect on the performance of the building's parameters against earthquakes [51]. Finally, the last earthquake considered in the study occurred in Pohang, South Korea on 15 November 2017. It is assumed that this earthquake was not a naturally occurring event but was influenced and triggered by various industrial activities. Furthermore, this earthquake has potentially increased the area's seismic vulnerability by stressing the fault lines in the vicinity [52]. Two megacities of Huenghae and Pohang have observed a considerable impact in terms of structural and social. The economy was affected significantly, with losses amounting to around 100 million US dollars in the public and private infrastructures. A team of researchers from ACI conducted the damage data collection in collaboration with multiple universities and research institutes [40].