Seismic vulnerability of lifeline buildings in Himalayan province of Uttarakhand in India

Seismic vulnerability of around 67, 60, 36, 23 and 18% buildings of Fire and Emergency Service, Police, hospital, school and local administration respectively in the earthquake prone Uttarakhand province located in Indian Himalaya has been assessed using Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) methodology. The study suggests that 71.86% of the surveyed local administration buildings, 64.58% schools, 62.08% Police stations, 56.25% Fire and Emergency Service stations and 52.86% hospitals together with 61.68% buildings of other departments would be put to disuse immediately after an earthquake that would pose challenges of various sort in mobilising resources for search, rescue and emergency healthcare together with relief and restoration as the remaining facilities would be highly overburdened. The study highlights poor quality of construction, lack of maintenance and non-compliance of safety standards as the main reasons enhancing vulnerability of the surveyed buildings. It is therefore recommended to undertake prioritised, planned and prompt demolition and reconstruction of Grade 5 buildings and detailed assessment and retrofitting of Grade 4 and Grade 3 buildings besides introducing measures for routine maintenance of public infrastructure and ensuring seismic safety provisions in these.