Rapid visual screening (RVS) is a procedure to assess building safety and seismic risk by visually identifying a building's structural system and vulnerabilities. The document discusses conducting RVS in Gangtok to screen for earthquake safety. It provides context on population and earthquake intensities. Guidelines are given on screening for issues like soft stories, floating columns, reinforcement, pounding between buildings. The screening aims to classify buildings based on risk to prioritize retrofitting to reduce seismic risk.

1. RAPID VISUAL SCREENING OF
BUILDINGS
Chandan Ghosh, Ph.D., Dr. Engg.
Professor & Head [GeoHazards Divn.]
National Institute of Disaster Management
Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India

2. RVS – what to screen?
 Threats from potential hazards – say Fire,
Earthquake….
 What are the scenario in our cities?
2

3. RVS for Gangtok – how?
3

5. MMI City Population
VI Gangtok 31k
VI Shiliguri 516k
VI Mangan 1k
VI Naya Bazar 1k
VI Namchi 1k
VI Singtam 6k
NIDM visit 22-26 Sept 2011
VI MMI (Strong shaking)
Felt by all, many
frightened. Some heavy
furniture moved; a few
instances of fallen plaster.
Damage slight.

6. VII MMI (Very strong shaking)
Damage negligible in buildings of good design and
construction; slight to moderate in well-built
ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly
built or badly designed structures; some chimneys
broken. VIII-MMI
VII-MMI –Delhi ‘s fate

8. SAFETY PERSPECTIVES OF BUILT-
ENVIRONMENT
- WHAT IT CARRIES FINALLY?

9. Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-
15
 Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a
national and a local priority
 Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks
and enhance early warning
 Use knowledge, innovation and education
to build a culture of safety and resilience
 Reduce the underlying risk factors.
 Strengthen disaster preparedness for
effective response at all levels.

10. Insured vs.Total Economic Loss in
Major Natural Catastrophes
100%
47%
40%
8%
0.3% 2% 4% 5% 5% 6% 6% 7%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Bangladesh
(Floods, 1998)
India
(Gujarat/Bhuj, 2001)
El Salvador (San
Salvador, 1986)
Turkey
(Izm
it, 1999)
M
exico
(M
exio
City, 1985)
Honduras
(Mitch,1998)
Poland
(Floods, 1997)
Colum
bia
(Arm
enia, 1999)
Indonesia (Floods, 1996)
Puerto
Rico
(Hugo, 1989)
USA
(Northridge, 1992)
France
(Storm
Lothar, 1999)
Insured Uninsured
5,000 4,571 2,000 21,591 10,024 5,000 3,700 1,660
Source: Swiss Re CatNet database, AXCO database
136 2,000 36,406 4,535Total Economic Loss
(US$MM)

11. 11
What went wrong?
Before 26 Jan 2001
Rao Lakha Chatri, Bhuj
After 26 Jan 2001

12. Any documents/handbook for
such buildings?
12

13. Who is engineer?
 Courage and integrity
 Thrust for Knowledge
 Integrity
 Capacity for sound judgement
 Capacity for hard work
 Imagination
 Instinct for economy
 Aptitude for leadership
 Accuracy for thought for action

14. John Smeaton
Father of Civil Engineering
( 1724 – 1792 )
Civil Engineers are self created set of
Men, whose profession owes its origin
not to power or influence ; but to the
encouragement of a great & powerful
nation.
We civil Ers/Ars can contribute
Significantly towards above cause

15. History of Civil Engg
 In the beginning,Civil Engineering included all engineers that did not
practice military engineering; said to have begun in 18th century France.
 First “Civil Engineer” was an Englishman, John Smeaton in 1761.
 Civil engineers have saved more lives than all the doctors in history —
development of clean water and sanitation systems.
 Henry H.White, first KY Civil Engineering Graduate from Bacon
(Georgetown)College in 1840.
• Fall of 1886, “State College” (UK) established civil engineering
degree.
• JohnWesley Gunn of Lexington received first Civil Engineering degree
fromA & M College (UK) in 1890.
 Constructing earthquake resistant structures is the best opportunity to
save lives of human beings – A second opportunity.

16. World Without
Engineers ?

22. EARTHQUAKE EFFECTS TO
UNDERSTAND

23. Golcuk Mosque( Istanbul ) Standing Tall amidst erased buildings ( 1999)…
Survival of the fittest

24. Totally collapsed & undamaged Builidings
Northridge CA 1964Kobe Japan 1995

25. TV Tower Ahmedabad Undamaged Transmission Tower
near Epicentre

26. Principal Reasons of failures…PrincipalreasonsoffailuresduringEarthquake
1. Quality of Concrete .
2. Construction on reclaimed soil .
3. Insufficient Depth of Foundation
4. Absence ofTie/Plinth Beams .
5.Absence of Beam at Sill level. .
6. Hollow Plinth or Soft Story. .
7. Stub/ Floating Columns
8. Odd shape of building.
9. Erroneous Structural Designs
10.Use of hand mixed concrete in columns

27. Eq. resistant construction –
possible?
27

28. Context
 Buildings performance in earthquake
 Construction monitoring and PEER check
 Damage patterns and mitigations
 Economic feasibility of mitigation
 Health monitoring of buildings – RVS for Delhi
 Post-EQ. health check
 Road Map
28

31. Bhuj-2001 …This building was reduced
by one floor – reason? livable?

32. Stone wall,
10.23%
Conc. Wall,
2.63%
Mud wall,
29.63%
Metal
sheets,
0.80%
Brick wall,
44.92%
Wood,
1.28%
Bamboo,
10.51%
Category of building stocks in India - Census (2001)
Total houses = 24.9 million

33. Lok Sabha starred Q. on 22nd Nov 2012
 Whether our infrastructures are vulnerable
to impending hazards
 Economics of disaster – scientific or
unscientific
 Mitigation measures – economically viable
or not
 ANY ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY
ASSESSMENT DONE SO FAR?
 AS OF 2004 REPORT – WE LOSE 2% OF
OUR GDP EVERY YEAR

34. Faulty construction – who
shall stop such practices?

35. Urban health & safety

36. Vulnerability of buildings

37. Lalita park- after effect

38. Poor constructions - Shimla

39. What is RVS?
RapidVisual Screening (RVS) is a cheap and fast
procedure in assessing the safety of buildings
and classifying them according to the risk
that they pose in times of strong
earthquakes.
Primarily
(1) identify the primary structural lateral load-
resisting system, and
(2) identify building attributes that modify the
seismic performance expected for this
lateral load-resisting system along with non-
structural components

42. 42

44. • Site specific concerns and other comments
• Maintenance concerns and other comments
• General environmental control – housekeeping and other
comments
• Fire & Electrical Hazard Prevention and Safety Concerns And
Other Related Comments
• General safety concerns and other comments
Name and designation of the field
inspector/Engineer:_______________Signature:________
Experience of Inspector/engineer:
Contact No.:
Name and Designation of the Evaluator:________________
Signature:___________
Email: Contact No.
________________

45. Q1. Does the building have an open storey
with just columns and no Unreinforced Masonry
Infill walls, either at the ground level or
at any intermediate storey level

46. Soft storey at the ground
X-bracing takes care of shear
forces due to earthquakes

48. Crushed cars

49. 49
Q2. Does the building have
floating columns or floating
structural walls
(discontinued in the lower
levels)

50. Q3. Are the columns having transverse
reinforcement with 90o hook ends?

53. Q4. Does the building have slander
columns and deep beams at any of the
beam-column junctions?

54. Q7. Are adjoining buildings or adjoining
parts of the same building separated by
less than 2% of the height of the
building?

55. Q12. Are the main load bearing columns
oriented along the length of the
building plan?

56. Pounding

57. Q17. Did the building suffer
any significant damage in
the past due to earthquake
or other hazards?
57

58. On December 19, 2011, 8 people killed and 3 injured in a bridge
collapse at Rangchang Khola, about 18 kms from Singtam towards
Dikchu on the Singtam-Mangan highway. The incident took place
when a 48-wheeler heavy trailer carrying transformer of Teesta Urja
Project to its project site in North Sikkim was attempting to cross the
bridge span.

59. Q18. Does the building
possess any seismic
retrofitting or
strengthening measures?
59

60. Ludlo castle School –Delhi
2007
60

61. EQ. resistant measures

62. Q19. Does the building have
basement with short
openings/ventilations over
ground?
62

63. opening at the basement above
ground – good ventilation BUT

64. Q21. Are the load bearing columns
continued from ground to top floors?

65. Building with NO columns at
upper floors

66. Q22. Is there any
alteration/modification done
for extra room/wall cabinet
any time in its lifetime?
66

67. Q24. Are the beam-column
supports/junctions centrally
positioned in all floors?
67

68. New constructions – no field check

69. Corner col. has diff. reibars,
high tension wires too close

70. Construction flaws -

71. • Rise in population, robust democracy….
• Increasing gap between have and have nots….
• Unplanned and ill-planned settlements
• Settlement in and industrialization of extremely
exposed regions
• Lack of enforcement mechanism….
• Lack of policy implementation…
• Political will and attitude….
• Change in environmental conditions - Climate Change
Reasons for globally increasing losses
due to natural disasters – general…

72. Haity EQ. 2010 – before and after
[importance of open space]

73. RVS - Rapid Visual Screening
 (1) identify the primary structural lateral load-
resisting system, and
 (2) identify building attributes that modify the
seismic performance expected for this lateral
load-resisting system.
 (3)The screening is based on numerical seismic
hazard and vulnerability score.The scores are
based on the expected ground shaking levels in
the region as well as the seismic design and
construction practices for the city or region.

74. Rapid visual screening (RVS)
 Purpose of RVS is to classify “those acceptable
as to risk to life safety or those that may be
seismically hazardous” (FEMA, 2002a).
 RVS scores are a quantitative measure of the
probability of collapse and collapse is the
predominant determinant of life safety risk for
buildings.
 RVS scores are useful in the evaluation of life
safety risk and in the prioritization of seismic
retrofit programs for populations of buildings.

75. LevelsofAnalyses
 1. Rapid visual screening (RVS) procedure requiring only visual
evaluation and limited additional information (Level 1 procedure).This
procedure is recommended for all buildings.
 2. Simplified vulnerability assessment (SVA) procedure requiring
limited engineering analysis based on information from visual
observations and structural drawings or on-site measurements (Level
2 procedure).This procedure is recommended for all buildings with
high concentration of people.
 3. Detailed vulnerability assessment (DVA) procedure requiring
detailed computer analysis, similar to or more complex than that
required for design of a new building (Level 3 procedure).This
procedure is recommended for all important and lifeline buildings.

76. Use of RVS
To identify if a particular building requires further evaluation for
assessment of its seismic vulnerability.
2.To rank a city’s or community’s (or organisation’s seismic
rehabilitation needs.
3.To design seismic risk management program for a city or a
community.
4.To plan post-earthquake building safety evaluation efforts.
5.To develop building-specific seismic vulnerability information for
purposes such as regional rating, prioritisation for redevelopment
etc.
6.To identify simplified retrofitting requirements for a particular
building (to collapse prevention level) where further evaluations
are not feasible.
7.To increase awareness among city residents regarding seismic
vulnerability of buildings.

77. Seismic vulnerability
classification
 Building types
 (1) masonry buildings,
 (2) RCC buildings,
 (3) steel buildings, and
 (4) timber buildings.

78. Site class as per FEMA 154
 Site class A - Hard rock with measured shear wave velocity
greater than 5,000 ft/sec.
 Site class B - Rock with shear wave velocity between 2,500
and 5,000 ft/sec
 Site class C -Very dense soil or soft rock [velocity between
1,200 and 2,500 ft/sec]
 Site class D - Stiff soil [velocity between 600 and 1,200
ft/sec]
 Site class E - Soil profile with velocity less than 600 ft/sec
 Site class F - Soils require site-specific evaluations
[liquefiable, peats, high plasticity, or very thick
soft/medium clays.

79. Building system performance
 Ductility.
 Strength and Stiffness.
 Bracing/Seismic Resistant Components.
 Braced frames .
 Moment resistant frames (generally of steel or reinforced concrete)
consist of beams connected to one or more columns to carry multi-
dimensional earthquake forces.
 Horizontal Diaphragms are floor and roof deck systems that carry
forces across the building to shear walls, braced frames, and/or
columns.
 Shear walls are large structural walls placed in a building to carry
forces from the roof and floor systems to the supporting foundation,
and into the soils.

80.  Cross walls are interior walls and partitions that are not necessarily
continuous to the foundations, but which are attached securely to two floor
diaphragms (the top side of a floor diaphragm to the underside of the floor
above) and that are stiff and strong enough to resist the independent
movement of the two connected diaphragms.
 Connections.
 Damping.
 Weight Distribution..
 Building Configuration.
 Foundation / Soil Characteristics. ground shaking frequency played a
significant role. Sites with rock close to or at the surface will be less likely to
amplify motion, and with such sites, generally, the farther from the source of
an earthquake, the less severe the motion.
 Resonance.
 Redundancy.

81. Building survey in East
Delhi
 Lalita park building collapse – 71 died, 65
injured
 Judicial inquiry commission by Delhi Govt.
 Forensic investigation – NIDM (Jan-Apr 2011)
 Structural safety of all buildings in east Delhi
– NIDM (May 2011 to till date)

82. 10000 building Survey in
East Delhi
 MCD engineers trained at NIDM
 Format devised – more than 250 parameters
 Survey conducted by MCD engineers at 64
wards simultaneously
 Mapping done for 2 wards – 221, 222
 Software developed

85. RVS in East Delhi by NIDM

86. 86

87. RAPID VISUAL SURVEY OF BUILDINGS IN EAST DELHI
Building
Identification
GENERAL INFORMATION
Building Name:__________________________________________________________________
Ownership: Public _______ Private______________________
Owner’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
House Number _______ , Street/ Lane No _______ ____________________________________
Name of colony ______________________________, District ____________________________
Nearby Landmark ______________, Delhi/New Delhi ____________ PIN __________________
Name of Police Station____________ Name of nearest Fire Station____________________
Note: Take representative photo and measurements, draw sketches/locations of stair cases, drains,
etc. showing good and bad aspects from the view point of earthquake safety and vulnerability.
1. Building type:
(a) Earthen building ___________________ (b) Stone in mud mortar _________________
(c) Stone in cement mortar _____________ (d) Brick masonry in mud mortar _________
(e)Brick masonry in cement mortar_______ (f) RCC Frame Building________________
(g) RCC Frame- shear wall Building ______ (h) Mixed Construction (specify):_________
2. Building area: (a) Approved___, (b) unauthorized regularized__, (c) unauthorized________
(d) Rural Village_,(e) Urban village_,(f) Resettlement colony____, (g) others (specify)______
3. Usage of the building:
(a) Residential _____,(b) Commercial________,(c) Offices __________, (d) Public ________
(e) Storage ____,(f)Housing Society _____,(g) Hospital/Health centre __, (h) School ______
(i) Coaching Centre _ (j) Religious places ____,(k) Petrol pump __________, (l) Police station _ (m) Fire
station ____, (n) Shopping Mall ____, (o)Community Centre __________ (p) mixed use ___ (q)
Cinema Hall____, (r) Others (specify) ____
4. Number of occupants/users (approximately):______________________________________
5. Age of construction : (a) ongoing construction _____________________________________
(b) Constructed < 5 yrs ___, 5-10yrs ___, 10-20 yrs ___, >20 yrs ___ Others (Specify) ______
Ward Colony Code Block House Number

90. 640
256 320
548 608 612 658
971
863 925
1037
925
804
717
276
174
Total survey in North and South zone
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000 TillApril30th
May2nd
May3rd
May4th
May5th
May6th
May7th
May9th
May10th
May11th
May12th
May13th
May14th
May16th
May18th
May19th
Survey in North and South zone

91. Residential
79%
Commercial
11%
Offices
0%
Public
0%
Storage
1%
Housing
Society
1%
Hospital /Health
Centre
0%
School
0%
Coaching Centre
0%
Religious Places
0%
Petrol Pump
0%
Police Station
0%
Fire Station
0%
Shopping Mall
0%
Community
Centre
0%
Mixed Use
8%
Cinema Hall
0%
Other (Specify)
0%
Buildings surveyed by MCD
( 10334 no.)

92. Special survey
Appartment
4%
Commercial
13%
Community
centre
1%
Educational
6%
Fire Station
1%
Hospital
5%
Institutional
2%
Mixed Use
9%
Public
5%
Petrol
Pump
2%
Police Station
1%
Religious
2%
Residential
34%
School
4%
Tank
0%
Tower
1%
Under
Construction
9%
Special survey -
300 buildings

95. 0
500000
1000000
1500000
2000000
2500000
3000000
3500000
246-AshokNagar
272-SoniaViharExtn.
272-Sabhapur
262-Johripur/tunda…
265-ShivViharPhase-…
212-NewAshokNagar
214-VasundhraEnclave
243-NandNagri
240-OldSeemapuri
215-Kondli
227-GhazipurVillage
239-DilshadGarden
272-SoniaVihar
268-Mustafabad&Old…
266-BabuNagar&Prem…
267-NehruVihar,Munga…
272-WestKarawalNagar
266-Sadatpur
272-Rajivnagar
272-CRPFCamp,Police…
270-KhajooriKhas…
270-ChandBagh
268-BrijPuri
261-262-GangaVihar
262-Gokalpuri
262-Gokalpur
225-…
238-239-Jhilmil,Vivek…
225-AnandViharMetro…
234-236-Kailash…
Buildingarea(m2)
Building Area In East Delhi

96. 0.00E+00
2.00E+05
4.00E+05
6.00E+05
8.00E+05
1.00E+06
246-Ashok Nagar
272-Sonia Vihar Extn.
272-Sabhapur
262-Johripur/tunda nagar/ambedkar nagar
265-Shiv Vihar Phase-1&phase-2
212-New Ashok Nagar
214-Vasundhra Enclave
243-Nand Nagri
240-Old Seemapuri
215-Kondli
227-Ghazipur Village
239-Dilshad Garden
272-Sonia Vihar
268-Mustafabad & Old Mustafabad
266-Babu Nagar & Prem Vihar
267-Nehru Vihar,Munga Nagar & Chandu Nagar
272-West Karawal Nagar
266-Sadatpur
272-Rajiv nagar
272-CRPF Camp,Police Training School,
270-Khajoori Khas Extension
270-Chand Bagh
268-Brij Puri
261-262-Ganga Vihar
262-Gokalpuri
262-Gokalpur
225-Karkardooma,Rishabh Vihar,Surajmal Vihar, Yojana…
238-239-Jhilmil,Vivek Vihar,Karkardooma
225-Anand Vihar Metro ,Bus ,Railway
234-236-Kailash Nagar, Chand Mohalla
Road Area In East Delhi

105. Professionally where we are now?
 Are the BIS codes and NBC enough?
 EQ. resistant technology well established –
implementation & enforcement?
 Seismic microzonation – reaped by Code officials?
 Building Performance objectives fulfilled ? – who’s
responsible?
 Are the designs PEER reviewed at site and design
office?
 Are the construction quality ensured?
 Plans are passed but not structural details?
 Are the building life guaranteed for 50 yrs atleast? –
Lab and field?
105

106. Non engineered buildings -
Amritsar

107. Unethical constructions?

108. New important constructions
 Who has designed the structure?
 What are the seismic design criteria considered for
the building?
 What is the sub-soil strata at the site?
 Is there any simulation study done for the seismic
performance of the building?
 Uniformity of concrete grade, cement grade, steel
grade, water and processing of concrete making –
ensured?
108

109. List of Indian Standards on Earthquake
Engineering + National building Code
1. IS 1893 (Part I), 2002: Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake
Resistant Design of Structures
2. IS 4326, 1993: Indian Standard Code of Practice for Earthquake
Resistant Design & Construction of Buildings.
3. IS 13827, 1993: Indian Standard Guidelines for improving
Earthquake Resistance of Earthen Buildings
4. IS 13828, 1993: Indian Standard Guidelines for Improving
Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings
5. IS 13920, 1993 Indian Standard Code of Practice for Ductile
Detailing of Reinforced Concrete Structures Subjected to Seismic
Forces.
6. IS 13935, 1993: Indian Standard Guidelines for Repair and Seismic
Strengthening of Buildings.

110. Landslides and roads conditions
– after Sikkim Earthquake 2011

111. A dam construction site near
Singtam – secondary effect
[construction induced LS]

113. Geo-professional’s food for
action
 Earthquake information – IMD reaches to public by FAX after
USGS, despite having more than 100 seismographs in place
 Strong motion data – questionable integration and timely
dissemination among 17+ organisations?
 Seismic microzonation of Sikkim – a geologist’s mindgame – very
far from true ground reality – ignorance or incapacity or not yet
handled by abled geotechnicians?
 Earthquake Codes – elegant and accountable to less than 3% of
the country’s building stock. Majority in general use more “Steel”
than proper “ductile reinforcement”as per IS:13925
 Govt. reserves $1.5 billion / yr for up keeping 15000 KM hill roads –
where is the economy?
 Teesta Urja’s hydel project cost over run shoot up by 300% --yet to
start due to Geopolitics
 Govt. declared $5 billion aid package but no authentic damage
documents yet made acceptable to Central Govt. by Sikkim Govt.
113

114. RoadMap
 Masons construct buildings without
knowledge of disaster effects – skill building
 Enforcement of guidelines, Dev. Control
rules, NBC-2005 etc. – need a separate LAW
 Estd. Of Mega CivilWorks Haat/Mall – where a
citizen gets his house of choice with all
agencies under one roof
 Disaster museum – e.g. Hiroshima, Kobe
 Live demonstration of EQ. in a building with
people on board experiencing M-1 to M7.0

115. RoadMap –contd.
 Seismic observatories in association with
ISRO’s Bhuvan & Gagan mission – GIS mode
 Live demonstration of Geo-tectonic process &
Landslides, earthquake,Tsunami waves –
defining safe vs. vulnerable built environment
 Real life Performance of prototype buildings
subjected to Flood, cyclone, high
winds, fire, ..vis-a-vis good practice in the
country
 Museum for vernacular structures in the
country

116. “Roadmap”
Wheredoyouthinkwe are lacking?
 Knowledge & wisdom?
 Resources, data, materials?
 Technological knowhow?
 Skills & man power?
 Unforeseen events?
 …….right attitude…..commitment…will
power?????? …
 New act, Law, …
 New constitutional amendment???

117. Thank you
117