The Main Reasons for Great Damages of Reinforced Concrete Buildings on 12th November 2017, Sarpol-e Zahab Earthquake

Reinforced concrete multistory buildings in Kermanshah Province, Iran, have been subjected to a strong ground motion during Sarpol-e Zahab earthquake of November 12, 2017. A wide number of Reinforced concrete buildings have been damaged in this earthquake. It has been observed that the principal reasons for the failure are the poor quality of construction materials and defects in the implementation of structural components. Some common imperfections were short columns in the stair-boxes, insufficient reinforcements at the concrete joints, inappropriate bends and splice of rebar, wide spacing of transverse reinforcements, inaccuracy in concrete mixing plans, and lack of conjunction between structural and nonstructural members. This investigation is based on the observations of IIEES reconnaissance team. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete multistory buildings during the Sarpol-e Zahab earthquake and vulnerability assessments of important multistory reinforced concrete structures such as Mehr buildings of Sarpol-e Zahab, Eslamabad-e Gharb, and Imam Khomeini hospital in Eslamabad-e Gharb, Kermanshah Province.