Damage mitigation for school buildings in seismically vulnerable regions

Purpose – School buildings have suffered disproportionate damage during past and recent earthquakes. For example, during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, many school buildings collapsed, resulting in loss of life. School buildings in many other parts of the world are also susceptible to this type of widespread damage because of inadequate design, detailing, or poor construction quality. The purpose of this paper is to show how these fatal flaws can be mitigated prior to future catastrophe by using good engineering practice to retrofit vulnerable schools. Design/methodology/approach – Conventional and innovative, cost-effective, and reliable tools are available to prevent damage to schools. It is often necessary to examine a group of buildings or all structures in a locality and develop a comprehensive risk management plan for the vulnerable buildings. As an example, a comprehensive evaluation and retrofit project, under the auspices of the World Bank, is currently under way in Istanbul, Turkey, to address vulnerable school and hospital buildings as discussed in the paper. As part of this effort in Turkey, a guideline that relies on state-of-the-art evaluation and retrofit methods has been developed to assist the local engineers. Findings – Implementation of the program based on the uniform standards developed in the retrofit guidelines, has significantly reduced the seismic risk to schools in Istanbul. Practical implications – The proposed evaluation and implementation technique can be utilized by governments worldwide to prevent further damage to key infrastructure and save millions of lives. Originality/value – Innovative retrofits can be used to provide enhanced performance and provide seismic resiliency for cluster of school buildings.