Damage in the 2008 China earthquake

An earthquake measuring 7.9 Richter scale occurred in Wenchuan on 12 May 2008, some 92km west of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. A field investigation was conducted in regions with Modified Mercalli intensity ranging from MMI VI to XI in order to study the damage pattern. As Australia has a low to moderate level of seismicity, this paper presents the failure characteristic of reinforced concrete buildings for intensity MMI VI to VIII, which dominated by 1) precast construction collapse, 2) unreinforced masonry damage, 3) soft storey building, 4) damage on facade system, 5) reinforced concrete quality and detailing, 6) pounding between two adjacent structures.