Seismic Performance of World Heritage Sites in Kathmandu Valley during Gorkha Seismic Sequence of April–May 2015
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper outlines the damage observed in seven world heritage sites within the Kathmandu Valley because of the Gorkha seismic sequence of April–May 2015. Field reconnaissance was performed twice after the main shock of moment magnitude () 7.8 on April 25 and after the strongest aftershock ( 7.3) on May 12. In this paper, structural damages were classified and forensic interpretation of structural performance during four major earthquakes since 1934 is presented. A new damage function is defined for the heritages, which could affect the structural performance. Causes of damage are discussed on the basis of geology, terrain characteristics, and structural deficiencies of assessed structures. Four types of heritages were identified: pagoda, Shikhara, dome and Greco-Roman. The dome was found to be the most resilient, followed by pagoda and Shikhara, and Greco-Roman heritages were identified as the most vulnerable structures. Along with the damage report, lessons learned in terms of damage and survival of heritage structures are disseminated in this paper.
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Acknowledgments
The author would like to express sincere gratitude to Bibek Ropakheti for his support during field investigation and to Mukunda Bhattarai and Lok Bijaya Adhikari for acceleration time history records of earthquakes. Constructive comments from an associate editor and two anonymous reviewers are greatly acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 31 • Issue 5 • October 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 15, 2016
Accepted: Jan 4, 2017
Published online: Apr 18, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 18, 2017
Published in print: Oct 1, 2017
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