The Collapse of the Vaults of the Ambato Matriz Church in the 1949 Earthquake: A Response with a Technical Approach

This research examines the structural behavior of the central vault of the Matriz church that collapsed during the 1949 earthquake in Ambato, Ecuador. Following the disaster, the church and Episcopal Palace were demolished. The central vault lacked buttresses and had large cracks two years before the collapse. A study was conducted using graphic restitution and the theory of limit analysis of structures to analyze the mechanical behavior of the central vault. The aim was to provide a technical explanation for the cause of the collapse beyond the impact of the earthquake. The limit analysis of structures is a tool that determines the technical stability conditions of a masonry structure using graphic statics. In this case, the respective checks of the structural behavior could be made, concluding that the structural ensemble of the central vault was unstable and could have collapsed at any moment, not necessarily due to an earthquake. The article is based on the research project “Architectural analysis of the central nucleus of Ambato between 1895 and 1949: styles, types, techniques, losses, and continuities”, which was conducted at the Universidad Técnica de Ambato, Ecuador, from 2021 to 2023.