Page 79 - Jabalpur_EQ

Chapter 4 Mud &

Village

Houses

Mud houses predominantly in rural areas of the earthquake affected region expe-
rienced a significant amount of damage. These non-engineering structures are
known to be vulnerable to seismic loads and it is again highlighted during the
Jabalpur earthquake. The damage survey team spernt considerable amount of its
time visiting remotely located earthquake hit villages studying damage pattern
in the rural construction which are usually very different from the urban con-
struction.

This chapter describes the typical damages that were observed with different
rural house constructions in practice. It also discusses why they failed usinga few
case studies and it also provides a list of suggestions for retrofitting works. The
prevalence of structural materials that were used in rural buildings for walls and
roofs are summarized in Table 4-1. More than 50 years old houses invariably

TABLE 4-1. Structural Materials used in Rural Buildings

Walls Roof

Tiles RC Others

Mud 63%
Brick 24% 10% 1%
Stone 2%
Total 89% 10% 1%

used clay tiles or reinforced brick concrete (RBC) for roofs whereas walls were
either in mud or burnt clay bricks in lime mortar. Houses 20 to 50 years old used
stones and bricks for walls and tiles, stone slabs, reinforced concrete (RC) and
RBC for roofs and floors. Houses which were built in last 20 years also used mud
and bricks in mud or cement mortar for walls and all the above mentioned mate-

Jabalpur Earthquake of May 22, 1997 69