| The increase in awareness and understanding of earthquakes has encouraged the development of culturally appropriate risk mitigation strategies that aim to build community resilience in preparation for the next natural disaster. In response to the magnitude MW 7.6 earthquake that struck the Kashmir region of northern Pakistan and the large number of residential housing collapses in Pakistan, an analytical investigation was performed on a damaged concrete building and prototype housing structures to evaluate this performance against seismic risk. The reconstruction efforts in Pakistan following the earthquake and the findings of this study are discussed with the aim of mitigating seismic risk in all developing countries. Results suggest that modifications to building layout and simple seismic resistance techniques for single and multi-storey structures, such as the reorientation of columns and the use of seismic banding, can considerably improve the performance of structures, with little or no additional cost. |
