by Amit Kumar, Jeewan Pundit

This type of house is used for residential purposes. The building type under study has been picked the from central part of India (Madhya Pradesh), but it is found throughout India with small or large variations. Timber is primarily used for the frame structural elements but due to an acute shortage of timber, this construction type is not practiced anymore. Various components of the building change from place to place depending on climate, socio-economic conditions, availability of material, etc. Timber frames, placed in longitudinal and traverse directions, are filled with brick masonry walls. The floor structure is made of timber planks. Most of the buildings are found to be rectangular in shape with few openings. The roofing material is usually light when it is made from galvanized iron sheets. Seismic performance of a perfectly framed building is very satisfactory. Existing old structures, however, require maintenance and strengthening (Figure-1a,1b). It has been observed that nominal cost will be incurred for introducing earthquake resistant features.

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by Amit Kumar

This is a traditional construction practice followed in India for centuries. Buildings of this construction type are used for residential, commercial, and public purposes throughout India, especially in the northern and central parts, where good quality soil for brick production is widely available. This is a single-story construction used both in rural and urban areas. The walls are constructed using clay bricks laid in mud, brick-lime or cement/sand mortar. The roof does not behave as a rigid diaphragm. These buildings are built without any seismic provisions and are considered to be moderately-to-highly vulnerable to earthquake effects.

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by Ravi Sinha, Svetlana N. Brzev

Typical rural and urban construction in western and southern India. This construction is widely prevalent among the middle-class population in urban areas and has become popular in rural areas in the last 30 years. Brick masonry walls in cement mortar function as the main load-bearing element. The roof structure is a cast-in-situ reinforced concrete slab. If constructed without seismic features, buildings of this type are vulnerable to earthquake effects. They exhibited rather poor performance during the Koyna (1967), Killari (1993), Jabalpur (1997), and Bhuj (2001) earthquakes in India.

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by Amir Ali Khan, Khalid Moin

This is a traditional construction practice prevalent both in the urban and rural areas of northern India, particularly in the western part of the Uttar Pardesh state. According to the 1991 Indian census, this construction constitutes about 17% of the total national housing stock and about 31% of the U.P. housing stock. Typically, this is a single-story construction. The main load-bearing elements are unreinforced brick masonry walls in mud mortar built without any seismic provisions. The roof structure consists of timber beams supported by the walls. Clay tiles or bricks are laid atop the beams; finally, mud overlay is placed on top of the tiles for the thermal protection and to prevent leakage. The main seismic deficiencies are heavy roofs and low-strength masonry walls, which render the building rather vulnerable to seismic effects.

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