Development of building inventory for northern Pakistan for seismic risk reduction

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present the studies which were carried out to determine building typology in Northern Pakistan, which is a seismically active region.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 41 towns and cities were surveyed to collect the data of building types. Help was also taken from global positioning system and satellite imagery.

Findings

In total, 14 different types of buildings were identified in the region based on the structural system and combination of wall and roof materials; each of them was assigned an appropriate designation. The walls in these buildings were made of block, stone or brick, whereas the roof consisted of corrugated galvanised iron sheet, thatched roof, precast concrete planks or reinforced concrete (RC). Only 6 per cent buildings were found to be engineered RC buildings; this indicates a significance proportion of non-engineered building stock in Northern Pakistan.

Research limitations/implications

The surveys were conducted in some of the selected areas. Other areas are beyond the scope of this work.

Practical implications

The presence of a huge deficient building stock in Pakistan indicates a major seismic risk. The seismic losses are largely dependent on the earthquake resistance of existing buildings and building stock. An inventory of existing buildings and their types can help in assessing seismic vulnerability of the built environment, which may lead to the development of policies for seismic risk reduction.

Originality/value

Presently, housing encyclopaedia does not exist in Pakistan. As a result, housing typology in the country is not known. The presented study addresses this gap in part. Housing typology surveys were conducted to study the typical construction practices in the selected areas and to determine the proportions of different building types in the overall building stock.

Citation

Rafi, M.M., Lodi, S.H., Ahmed, M., Kumar, A. and Verjee, F. (2016), "Development of building inventory for northern Pakistan for seismic risk reduction", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 7 No. 5, pp. 501-520. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-05-2015-0028