Abstract—The tremendous loss of life that resulted in the aftermath of recent earthquakes in developing countries is mostly due to the collapse of non-engineered and semi-engineered building structures. Such structures are used as houses, schools, primary healthcare centers and government offices. These building are classified structurally into two categories viz. non-engineered and semi-engineered. Non-engineered structures include: adobe, unreinforced masonry (URM) and wood buildings. Semi-engineered buildings are mostly low-rise (up to 3 story) light concrete frame structures or masonry bearing walls with reinforced concrete slab. This paper presents an overview of the typical damage observed in non-engineered structures and their most likely causes in the past earthquakes with specific emphasis on the performance of such structures in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. It is demonstrated that seismic performance of these structures can be improved from life- safety viewpoint by adopting simple low-cost modifications to the existing construction practices. Incorporation of some of these practices in the reconstruction efforts after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake are examined in the last section for mitigating seismic risk hazard. Keywords—Kashmir earthquake, non-engineered buildings, seismic hazard, structural details, structural strengthening. I. INTRODUCTION – IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS CONOMIC toll and mortality rate due to natural hazards (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, storms etc.) is on the rise due to increased world population, urbanization, population density and inhibition of areas prone to these natural events [1]. Mortality rates due to the natural hazards has decreased steadily in the developed countries since later half of the twentieth century with increase in awareness and implementation of stringent building design codes and practices [2]. However, the economic cost associated with these events has shown an upward trend due to increased urbanization, technological dependency and increased volume and value of infrastructure exposed to the risk in these countries. The situation is grimmer when a similar analysis is conducted for developing and under-developed countries. Here, both mortalities and economic loss are on the rise [2]. In fact, more than 92% of the approximately 2.7 million fatalities due to geophysical hazards occurred in the developing countries over the period 1900 to 2012 [3]. Collapse of buildings and houses during earthquakes are the leading reason for worldwide fatalities caused by natural disasters in the last 110 years followed by floods and hurricanes [3]. Fig. 1 presents a comparison of frequency of M.T.A. Chaudhary is with College of Engineering, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (phone: +966-565949865; e-mail: mtchaudary@imamu.edu.sa / mtariqch@hotmail.com). four types of natural disasters and related fatalities and direct economic cost from 1900 to 2012. Earthquakes top both fatalities and economic impact despite lesser occurrence. The numbers are staggering and a reason for concern for policy makers, economists, seismologists and more importantly civil engineers and urban planners who are professionally responsible for ensuring the safety of buildings and cohesion of the urban infrastructure fabric in the aftermath of natural disasters. Fig. 1 Fatalities and economic impact of natural disasters (1900 – 2012) II. OVERVIEW OF SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF BUILDINGS The saying 'earthquakes do not kill peoples but buildings do' is probably true for the vast majority of building structures in the world. Houses (single family as well as multi-family residences) comprise more than 80% of the building stock in the world. Single family houses are almost always built without the supervision of a professional engineer or an architect and are more likely to suffer damage during a seismic event. The traditional materials for house construction are: adobe, natural stone, masonry (burnt clay bricks, concrete blocks) set in mud/lime/cement-sand mortar timber, and light reinforced concrete frame. The roof consists of wood joists infilled with thatch or tree branches and plastered with mud, corrugated metal sheets or reinforced concrete slab. Traditional knowledge, past experience and rules of thumb are the only available design guides for construction of these dwellings. The structural components are usually adequate for withstanding the gravity loads but grossly inadequate to withstand the lateral inertia loads imposed by earthquakes. In fact, the collapse of such non-engineered and semi-engineered Seismic Vulnerability Mitigation of Non-Engineered Buildings Muhammad Tariq A. Chaudhary E World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Structural and Construction Engineering Vol:8, No:4, 2014 376 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(4) 2014 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/9997923 International Science Index, Structural and Construction Engineering Vol:8, No:4, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9997923