The Challenge of Affordable Housing in Disasters: Western Iran Earthquake in 2017

Abstract

In November 2017, a disruptive earthquake occurred in Western Iran. After the major earthquake in Kermanshah, most affordable buildings such as a hospital in Islamabad and a dozen schools were destroyed. According to experts, a dangerous location (construction on the fault), poor quality of concrete, inappropriate connection of the facade to the structure, the use of undesirable construction materials, and low quality of non-structural components are considered as the main reasons for these damages. Regarding the role of government in the developing countries, construction policies should be modified and new policies should be implemented to enhance the structural and non-structural resilience in the buildings.

Vulnerability of Non-Structural Elements (NSEs) in Buildings and Their Life Cycle Assessment: A Review

“…In 2016, about 54.5% of the global population occupied urban areas and big cities; health units are very important, and their functionality is vital during emergency response [27]. In November 2017, a powerful earthquake destroyed houses, schools and hospitals (at least 40% destroyed) in Iran near the fault line; the quality of the material used and the lack of repairs aggravated the vulnerability [54]. The probabilistic earthquake performance based on performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) methodology can be used for community resilience [55].…”

“…Furtado et al, 2021 [98] highlighted that in important buildings like school buildings, past earthquake planning is needed to take into account resilience. Heidari et al, 2020 [54] showed that governments should formulate useful policies to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience. The research of Pesaralanka et al, 2023 [56] is limited to linear analysis only; the damages of NSEs and EAL need to be researched further.…”

Vulnerability Analysis of Non-structural Elements (Nse) in Buildings and Their Life-Cycle Assessment: A Review

“…In 2016, about 54.5% of the global population occupied urban areas and big cities; health units are very important and their functionality is vital during emergency response [58]. In November 2017, a powerful earthquake destroyed houses, schools and hospitals (at least 40% destroyed) in Iran near the fault line; the quality of material used and the lack of repairs aggravated the vulnerability [59].…”