Engineered masonry, namely reinforced and confined masonry, has been widely used for housing construction in Chile over the last few decades. Most one- and two-story single-family masonry dwellings did not experience any damage due to the 27 February 2010 Maule earthquake, with the exception of a few dwellings of pre-1970 vintage, which suffered moderate damage. A similar statement can be made for three- and four-story confined masonry buildings: a large majority of buildings remained undamaged. However, several reinforced and partially confined three- and four-story masonry buildings suffered extensive damage, and two three-story partially confined buildings collapsed. The key damage patterns and the causes of damage are discussed in the paper. The extent of damage observed in the field was correlated with calculated vulnerability indices, and relevant recommendations were made related to the design and construction practices.

A uniform and comprehensive classification system, often referred to as taxonomy, is fundamental for the characterization of building portfolios for natural hazard risk assessment. A building taxonomy characterizes assets according to attributes that can influence the likelihood of damage due to the effects of natural hazards. Within the scope of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) initiative, a building taxonomy (GEM Building Taxonomy V2.0) was developed with the goal of classifying buildings according to their seismic vulnerability. This taxonomy contained 13 building attributes, including the main material of construction, lateral load-resisting system, date of construction and number of stories. Since its release in 2012, the taxonomy has been used by hundreds of experts working on exposure and risk modeling efforts. These applications allowed the identification of several limitations, which led to the improvement and expansion of this taxonomy into a new classification system compatible with multi-hazard risk assessment. This expanded taxonomy (named GED4ALL) includes more attributes and several details relevant for buildings exposed to natural hazards beyond earthquakes. GED4ALL has been applied in several international initiatives, enabling the identification of the most common building classes in the world, and facilitating compatibility between exposure models and databases of vulnerability and damage databases.

Wall Index (WI), also known as "wall density", is a ratio of the total cross-sectional area for all structural walls aligned in one direction of the building's floor plan and the gross floor plan area. Reconnaissance studies after past earthquakes in countries like Chile, Mexico, and China, confirmed that WI is one of the key parameters related to seismic performance of loadbearing masonry structures which influences the extent of earthquake damage. The WI requirements have been included in several international codes and guidelines. According to Eurocode 8 (EN 1998(EN :1-2005, WI can be used as a design parameter for seismic design of simple masonry buildings with regular configuration and limited height up to 5 storeys, as an alternative to a more elaborate and complex seismic analyses approaches. The required WI for a building depends on the seismic hazard for the building site, number of storeys, type of masonry (unreinforced/ reinforced/confined) and the mechanical properties of masonry (compressive/shear strength). WI can be also used for seismic assessment of existing masonry buildings in pre-and postearthquake situations, as documented by studies from Chile and Mexico. The paper will provide a comparison of the masonry design requirements from selected codes, including the 1964 and 1981 Yugoslav technical regulations for design and construction of buildings in seismic regions and Eurocode 8. A case study of a masonry residential building which was damaged in the 2010 Kraljevo earthquake (M 5.5) and evaluated using different codes is also presented in the paper.

Recent earthquakes have caused unacceptably high death tolls. We, the editors of the World Housing Encyclopedia, believe that reducing such an unacceptably high loss of life from earthquakes is the most important challenge facing the global earthquake engineering community. This paper acknowledges the continuing disparity between life loss from earthquakes in developing and developed countries, and the increasing vulnerability in developing countries. A sampling of current efforts to improve construction practices includes the publication of earthquake tips in India, construction manuals in Colombia, and the formation of various international networks to promote collaboration and information sharing. Future possibilities include more rewards for research into inadequately engineered construction, greater emphasis on small-scale, local efforts, and a stronger emphasis on advocacy. We believe that all of us, as earthquake professionals, have a responsibility to make the built environment safer worldwide.

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Low-rise reinforced concrete (RC) frames with brick masonry infill walls up to five stories high have been used for housing construction in Nepal since the late 1980s. Many buildings of this type were damaged and/or collapsed in the 25 April 2015 Gorkha earthquake (M 7.8), even in areas characterized with moderate shaking intensity such as Kathmandu Valley. Due to inadequate design and/or construction of RC frame components, these buildings essentially behave like masonry shear wall structures with a shear-dominant failure mechanism. The paper presents the findings of a field survey of 98 RC buildings affected by the 2015 earthquake. The main objective of the study was to correlate the observed damage in the buildings using the modified European macroseismic scale (EMS)-98 and the wall index (defined as the wall area in the direction of shaking divided by the total building plan area above the level of interest). The results can be used to help establish recommendations regarding the required wall index for low-rise RC buildings in Nepal.

This study presents a comprehensive open probabilistic seismic risk model for India. The proposed model comprises a nationwide residential and non-residential building exposure model, a selection of analytical seismic vulnerability functions tailored for Indian building classes, and the open implementation of an existing probabilistic seismic hazard model for India. The vulnerability of the building exposure is combined with the seismic hazard using the stochastic (Monte Carlo) event-based calculator of the OpenQuake engine to estimate probabilistic seismic risk metrics such as average annual economic losses and the exceedance probability curves at the national, state, district, and subdistrict levels. The risk model and the underlying datasets, along with the risk metrics calculated at different scales, are intended to be used as tools to quantitatively assess the earthquake risk across India and also compare with other countries to develop risk-informed building design guidelines, for more careful land-use planning, to optimize earthquake insurance pricing, and to enhance general earthquake risk awareness and preparedness.