Earthquakes, when it comes to natural calamities, are characteristically devastating and pose serious threats to buildings in urban areas. Out of multiple seismic regions in the Himalayas, Bhutan Himalaya is one that reigns prominent. Bhutan has seen several moderate-sized earthquakes in the past century and various recent works show that a major earthquake like the 2015 Nepal earthquake is impending. The southwestern city of Bhutan, Phuentsholing is one of the most populated regions in the country and the present study aims to explore the area using geophysical methods (Multispectral Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW)) for understanding possibilities pertaining to infrastructural development. The work involved a geophysical study on eight different sites in the study region which fall under the local area plan of Phuentsholing City. The geophysical study helps to discern shear wave velocity which indicates the soil profile of a region along with possible seismic hazard during an earthquake event, essential for understanding the withstanding power of the infrastructure foundation. The acquired shear wave velocity by MASW indicates visco-elastic soil profile down to a depth of 22.2 m, and it ranged from 350 to 600 m/s. A site response analysis to understand the correlation of bedrock rigidness to the corresponding depth was conducted using EERA (Equivalent-linear Earthquake Site Response Analysis) software. The amplification factors are presented for each site and maximum amplification factors are highlighted. These results have led to a clear indication of how the bedrock characteristics influence the surface ground motion parameters for the corresponding structure period. The results infer that the future constructional activity in the city should not be limited to two- to five-story buildings as per present practice. Apart from it, a parametric study was initiated to uncover whatever effects rigid bedrock has upon hazard parameters for various depths of soil profile up to 30 m, 40 m, 60 m, 80 m, 100 m, 120 m, 140 m, 160 m, 180 m and 200 m from the ground surface. The overriding purpose of doing said parametric study is centered upon helping the stack holders who can use the data for future development. Such a study is the first of its kind for the Bhutan region, which suffers from the unavailability of national seismic code, and this is a preliminary step towards achieving it.

The island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, is located in a subduction zone between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate. In addition, there are 13 geological faults in the interior of the island, some of which have shown the potential to generate earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and higher. Thus, the whole island is considered to be a high seismic risk region. In the past 100 years, several earthquakes have affected both parts of the island. In the case of the Dominican Republic, two earthquakes stand out: a magnitude 8.1 earthquake on August 4, 1946, north of the Samaná Province, which caused a tsunami, soil liquefaction, and the loss of about 100 lives, and a magnitude 6.5 earthquake on September 22, 2003, in the city of Puerto Plata, which caused significant damage for infrastructures. Among the observed effects, the partial and total collapse of several school buildings had a remarkable impact on local communities. In addition to the high seismic risk, a large part of the national infrastructure may exhibit high vulnerability to earthquakes because the seismic regulations had been the same for 32 years, namely from 1979 to 2011. During these three decades, thousands of structures were built nationwide, including essential facilities such as hospitals and schools. Considering that the current student population in public schools in the Dominican Republic is over 2 million, with the majority attending buildings that were designed with the 1979 seismic code and which proved to be highly vulnerable during the Puerto Plata earthquake, it is vital to take measures that reduce the risk and minimize potential earthquake damage to school buildings. In this context, the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC) has undertaken recently a project with the main objective to assess the seismic vulnerability of 22 schools located in the San Cristóbal Province, in the south of the Dominican Republic. The latter schools were all built prior to the adoption of the current updated seismic code. This paper presents the results of the assessment of the Fernando Cabral Ortega School. Although only the results of a single RC building are presented, the response of such structure can be considered representative of a portfolio of existing schools in Dominican Republic.

To meet the growing demand for housing, novel construction techniques relying on standardized and fast-to-build structural systems are becoming popular in developing countries. In particular, RC buildings relying on shear walls built using monolithic formworks are becoming a potentially sustainable and cost-effective alternative to classic construction systems due to high standardization and reusing, and reduced construction costs and times. Despite their increasing use and their advantages, significant uncertainties arise in their seismic response. This is mainly related to the high geometric slenderness and low reinforcement ratio typical of these structural walls. This research paper investigates the seismic behavior of RC shear walls built with monolithic formwork by means of refined FEM analyses. RC walls typical of residential buildings in the Dominican Republic were selected, with the objective of evaluating their lateral capacity and failure mode. Furthermore, seismic performances of a case-study building were assessed by means of simplified considerations. The results confirmed that these walls are susceptible to global element buckling which may significantly limit their lateral displacement capacity. However, due to the high density of the structural systems, buildings relying on these walls exhibited an adequate seismic response, thus confirming the main design assumptions.