Preliminary seismic vulnerability assessment of Mussoorie Town, Uttarakhand (India)

Rapid visual screening (RVS) can be effectively used to evaluate the vulnerability of a large number of buildings with less computational effort. In this study, a seismic vulnerability assessment is conducted for all municipal wards in Mussoorie town, Uttarakhand, India. Various structural parameters of the building, like structure type, number of stories, soil type, age and roof type and non-structural parameters like occupancy, use and owner name have been collected. Further, seismic vulnerability of every individual building in the town has been assessed. The data collection form of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA 154 for RVS was modified to suit local conditions and was utilized for this purpose. Using satellite image all of the buildings are mapped in a GIS and a damage probability matrix is used to estimate the effects of an earthquake. The buildings are classified in five categories of seismic vulnerability. The data of Mussoorie town show that a total of 623 buildings (about 20% of those surveyed) show a high probability of Grade 5 damage and a very high probability of Grade 4 damage, whereas 587 buildings (about 19% of those surveyed) show a high probability of Grade 4 damage and a very high probability of Grade 3 damage in case of earthquake shaking of Intensity VIII or more in MSK scale. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]