Damage assessment of buildings due to land subsidence in Joshimath town of Northwestern Himalaya, India

The process of land subsidence deals with the removal of excess pore water pressure and the compaction of soil mass under the effect of natural or human factors. The detrimental effects of land subsidence include changes in the morphology of the land surface and the formation of earth fissures, as well as structural and non-structural damage to surface and subsurface infrastructures. In Joshimath on 2nd January 2023, an incidence of ground subsidence occurred which damaged many buildings and infrastructures. This study addresses the exploratory work on rapid visual damage assessment of buildings based on method developed by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and European Macroseismic Scale (EMS) − 98. The building vulnerability was assessed using building attributes like typology, number of storeys, area, construction materials, occupancy, configuration, construction practice etc. The damage attributes considered are based on siting issues, soil and foundation conditions, architectural features and elements, structural aspects and components, material & construction details, crack monitoring etc. In the critical buildings, cracks were monitored using crack meters. This study concludes out of total 2364 building surveyed, 37%, 42%, 20%, 1% buildings fall under “Usable”, “Further Assessment”, “Unusable”, “to be demolished”, grades respectively.