Seismic Upgrading Strategy for Near-Fault School Buildings in Taiwan

Abstract

All types of school buildings were seriously damaged in Taiwans 921 Chi-Chi earthquake. Seismic evaluation and retrofit of these numerous vulnerable school buildings has become an important issue to be resolved. The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), Taiwan assisted the Ministry of Education on the arrangement of programs to accelerate retrofit and rebuilding works of elementary school, junior high school, senior high school and vocational school buildings, as part of the project called, Economic Recovery Act. Based on the database for seismic assessments and retrofits of school buildings, this study recommends a seismic upgrading procedure of near-fault school buildings. The proposed procedure can control effectively the seismic upgrading progress of near-fault school buildings. It also provides suggestions on the seismic retrofitting and reconstruction plans of near-fault school buildings to reduce damages and losses in a possible seismic event.