Proceedings of International Conference on Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, 2018 Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, Bangladesh 1 Structural Vulnerability of Buildings to Earthquake of Ward no. 14, Mymensingh Municipality, Bangladesh M. A. ISLAM 1 , T. T. ISABA 1 , I. AZIZ 1 , S. AZIZ 1 , R. AHSAN 2 1 Lecturer, BUET-Japan Institute of Disaster Prevention and Urban Safety (BUET-JIDPUS), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2 Director, BUET-Japan Institute of Disaster Prevention and Urban Safety (BUET-JIDPUS), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Abstract Loss of life and economy as well as damage in an earthquake is increased due to structural vulnerability. To reduce those losses and damages, it is necessary to understand the concept of structural vulnerability. With this in mind a project was undertaken by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Mymensingh Municipality in which a study was carried out to assess the structural vulnerability of the existing buildings of Ward no. 14, Mymensingh Municipality, Bangladesh. According to Bangladesh National Building Code (draft BNBC 2017), Mymensingh municipality is located in Zone 4 possessing an acceleration of 0.36g. This high acceleration can cause severe damage to buildings which were built according to BNBC 1993 considering an acceleration of 0.25g. For this purpose, total 707 buildings were assessed according to the guideline of FEMA P-154 which is known as Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) Method. Different vulnerability features e.g. soft story, plan irregularity, pounding etc. were focused in this assessment. The study reveals that about 53 percent buildings show the above-mentioned structural defects. About 36% buildings are below cut-off score (based on seismic design criteria) and are vulnerable to earthquake. 28% buildings are unreinforced masonry (URM) which are more vulnerable in earthquake. Different damage levels of the assessed buildings, recommended by European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98), were identified. Above 97 percent of surveyed structures show a high probability of Grade 3 damage and a very high probability of Grade 2 damage. RVS scores of buildings are seen with respect to number of stories, usage and structure type. Using ArcGIS 10.5, vulnerable buildings of different damage grades are represented in a map which shows their spatial location and distribution in Ward-14. Keywords: Earthquake, Structural Assessment, RVS, Seismic Vulnerability, Mymensingh 1 Introduction According to World Risk Report (2016), Bangladesh is the fifth most vulnerable country to disasters (UN, 2016). Tectonically, Bangladesh lies in high seismic zone at the junction of three plates- Indian Plate, Eurasian Plate and Burmese Microplate. The intersection of three plates have resulted in the generation of three active faults- Madhupur fault (MF), Dauki Fault (DF), and Plate Boundary Fault (CDMP, 2010; Akhter, 2010). In the last 150 years, Bangladesh has experienced damages of five earthquakes with magnitude over 7.0 (Richter scale) (Shaw et. al., 2013). Historical trend of seismic events and some recent tremors in the country or adjoining areas indicate that Bangladesh is at high risk of earthquake (GoB, 2015; Rahman et.al., 2015). Rapid urbanization, population growth, migration and development of economic activities have induced a rapid increase in earthquake vulnerability (GoB, 2015). Besides earthquake, the country is highly susceptible to structural collapse as seen from the incidents in Old Dhaka (2004), Spectrum collapse (2005) and the collapse of Rana Plaza (2013) resulting in the deaths and injuries of more than thousands. Therefore, a severe earthquake or structural collapse in this country will cause serious human casualty, damages of infrastructures and social loss (Alam et.al., 2008). In order to reduce the losses caused by earthquake, an assessment of structural vulnerability in urban areas is necessary. A number of methods have been introduced over the years in order to assess the seismic vulnerability of structures. Many of these are time consuming and require detailed calculation such as detailed engineering assessment, assessment of structural vulnerability by ASCE Tier-1, ASCE Tier-2 guidelines etc. Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) method for moderate seismicity developed by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), USA is also a method for vulnerability assessment. RVS was chosen to get an initial idea regarding the structural vulnerability of the existing infrastructures of Ward-14, Mymensingh as it is a procedure that provides speed and can use screeners who are not necessarily structural engineers. As screening could be done quickly,