EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE, THE ARMENIAN SSR, DECEMBER 7, 1988

Collapsed Stone Masonry Building, Alivar, Armenia

Collapsed stone masonry building near Alivar. The stone blocks were made of tuft (a lightweight stone composed of volcanic ash). The masonry walls supported hollow-core precast-concrete floor planks. Horizontal structural ties were inadequate or missing. There were also no connectors between floor planks and end walls. As a result these buildings collapsed at the corners and at the ends instead of at the center as was the case with the precast-concrete-frame buildings. Photograph Credit: U.S. Geological Survey (C.J. Langer).