Rapid visual screening of buildings in Manila: A practicum project

• Main Author: Vallejo, Cesar B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3613
• Institution: De La Salle University

Rapid Visual Screening is a cheap and fast procedure in assessing the safety of buildings and classifying them according to the risk that they pose in times of earthquakes. In this project, it was used in the evaluation of mid-rise to high- rise buildings in the City of Manila and the area under study was delimited and was composed of seven barangays in Sampaloc bounded by España Boulevard, Padre Paredes St., Padre Novel St. and Mendoza-Andalucia Streets. The area was chosen because this is in the university belt with many students and reviewees living in the different buildings in the area. It is between two big universities in Manila namely, Far Eastern University and University of Santo Tomas. It is also very near National University, University of Perpetual Help, University of the East, University of Manila and many review centers in the Sampaloc area. Data about the buildings were presented in a modified ATC 21 form which was used to classify the evaluated buildings to low, medium and high risks buildings. The groupings done could be used as reference of DPWH and Manila City Engineering office for prioritizing future detailed seismic evaluation of buildings in the area. The data gathered were based on major factors that affect risk of seismic hazards in any building as indicated in the ATC form which are soil condition, seismicity, type of structure, irregularities, etc. These structural elements were used in the scoring coefficients to assess the seismic performance of the buildings that were studied. The procedure has its limitations because hazardous details cannot be seen just in the side walk. The author suggests that the data in the summary report must be validated. Agencies involved on earthquake mitigation and local governments may adopt this procedure to begin their local disaster mitigation program.