Information on January 26, 2001, Bhuj Earthquake, INDIA

By

Associate Dean - Research, Graduate Programs, and Partnerships

College of Engineering

Professor - Civil and Environmental Engineering
Cal Poly State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

rgoel@calpoly.edu

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A Quick Report on January 26, 2001 Earthquake in INDIA

Performance of Buildings During the January 26, 2001 Bhuj Earthquake (Abstract and Field Report Submitted to EERI)

My Photograph Collection with Description

My Photgraphs

Performance of Buildings During the January 26, 2001 Bhuj Earthquake

Rakesh K. Goel

Associate Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

California Polytechnic State University

San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

rgoel@calpoly.edu

Background

A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.7 (USGS revised) struck the Kutch area in Gujarat at 8:46 AM (local time) on January 26, 2001. The most damaging earthquake to strike India in the last five decades has led to a large loss of life and property. Nearly 20,000 persons are reported to be dead and over 150,000 injured; the numbers are expected to rise as more information becomes available. The estimated economic loss is reported to be about US $5 billions.

A week after the event, an EERI reconnaissance team was in the field for post-earthquake investigation work. The building group co-coordinated by Dr. Rakesh K. Goel of Calpoly, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA, and Dr. C. V. R. Murty of Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, India focused on building performance in Ahmedabad and other regions of Gujarat affected by the January 26 event. The other members of the EERI team were Alok Goyal, and Jaswant Arlekar. In addition, Rainer Metzger of PSM Consulting, and a team of three engineers from Degenkolb Engineers, led by Jeff Soulages, contributed to the efforts of the EERI team. Several other teams, which are in the field or will be visiting at a latter date, would also be invited to supplement the efforts of the EERI team. This abstract summarizes the findings on damage to engineered buildings in Ahmedabad. A detailed report and damage to non-engineered structures will be presented in a comprehensive report latter.

During the January 26, 2001 earthquake, numerous mid- to high-rise residential buildings collapsed in the city of Ahmedabad leading to several hundred causalities and significant financial loss. The city of Ahmedabad lies about 300 km (400 km by road) east of the epicenter of the January 26 event and falls in the seismic Zone III (IS: 1893-1976) of India (Figure 1). The lateral design forces for this region are about 4 to 6% of total weight of the building, depending on the foundation type and soil conditions. Given that the horizontal accelerations recorded in Ahmedabad during the earthquake event are about 10% of gravity (Figure 2), the buildings may be expected to deform slightly into the inelastic range. However, the extent of damage observed was significantly more than expected in such a moderate seismic region. Following is a brief summary of the reasons that contributed to this unexpected damage in residential construction.

It is useful to note the significant length of the ground shaking; noticeable accelerations were recorded for a duration of nearly two minutes. The shaking in the city of Ahmedabad consisted of low levels of motion for about first 30 seconds followed by a strong shaking phase lasting about another 30 seconds, and then a gentle shaking again at the end (Figure 2). Discussions with residents of many apartment complexes indicated that many people were able to run out during the initial 30 seconds. The building collapses occurred a little after the onset of the strong shaking phase. Therefore, the initial gentle shaking appeared to have served as a warning signal and may be credited with saving many lives.

Figure 1. Map of India showing Seismic Zones (IS: 1893-1976).

Figure 2. Accelerations recorded at the basement of the passport building in Ahmedabad during the January 26 Bhuj earthquake (Source: University of Roorkee Web Site).

Structural System

The typical residential construction in Ahmedabad consists of reinforced concrete moment resisting frame system with un-reinforced brick infill panels. The frame at the ground floor is open with floors at the upper floors containing un-reinforced brick infill panels. This type of lateral load resisting system leads to what is commonly known as a “soft-story” system (Figure 3). Most buildings also have overhanging covered balconies at higher floors (Figure 4); the overhangs were observed to be about 5 feet. The columns at the ground floor may not align with the columns at the upper floors giving rise to vertical discontinuities in the lateral load resisting system.

Figure 3. Example of a soft-story apartment building (Photograph by Goel).

Figure 4. Example of overhang in residential construction (Photograph by Goel).

The above-described lateral load resisting system occurs because of two factors. First, the open ground floor is needed to provide car parking; the buildings are usually built on very small land lots with little room for open parking. Second, the Floor Surface Index (FSI) used by the local municipal corporation for residential construction permits the land developers to cover more area at upper floor than the ground floor. The FSI only counts the area of within the column footprints at the ground floor. As a result, the lateral load resisting system consists of only two to three columns in a frame on the ground floor with a beam overhanging on both sides. The upper floors may or may not continue these columns. But at least two floating columns are added, one on each end of the cantilever beam, starting from the first floor and running the entire height of the building.

The columns for low-rise residential buildings, up to ground plus four stories (G+4), rest on shallow isolated footings located about 5 feet below the ground level. For taller buildings, say up to ground plus ten stories (G+10), the column foundations are still open footings located at a depth of 8 to 10 feet; sometimes the foundation may also have tie beams. The column sizes for low-rise buildings (G+4) are about 9 inch by 18 inch with ties consisting of mild steel smooth No. 2 bars at a spacing of about 8 to 9 inches. The beams tend to be much deeper to accommodate large spans and overhangs giving rise to strong-beam, weak-column construction. The columns sizes for taller buildings (G+10) tend to be a little bigger, usually 12 inch by 24 inch with No. 3 deformed steel ties at a spacing of 8 to 9 inches. The beam size in taller buildings may be similar to the column size. The ties are always end up with a 90-degree hook.

The most residential buildings appear to be designed primarily for gravity load; there are some indications that the lateral loads may not have been properly considered in design of these buildings. There is insufficient confining steel to provide required ductility in the lateral load resisting system, and column reinforcement is spliced just above the beam level, with often in sufficient development length.

Failure of Residential Buildings in Ahmedabad

Most residential buildings in Ahmedabad suffered some type of damage during the earthquake. Much of the damage was in the form of cracking of infill wall panels at the ground floor level. However, nearly one hundred[1] residential buildings collapsed during January 26, 2001 event. Since for the ground motion experienced in the city, buildings with sound design and construction should not have experienced any structural damage (although some nonstructural damage may be expected), the damage appears to be due to a combination of factors. Based on the post-earthquake field investigation, following appear to be the technical reasons for the observed damage.

Soft-Story System. As described previously, a large number of residential buildings in the city have open ground floors leading to soft first story. Besides the elevator core, there are few walls, if any to provide lateral resistance. The upper floor frames are usually filled with un-reinforced brick masonry forming a very stiff lateral load resisting system. Most of the collapses and significant damage occurred in this type of soft-story buildings. It is well known from observations after past earthquakes in California and as well as after the recent Turkey earthquake that this type of building construction is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Nearly all the deformation occurs in the columns in the soft-story, with rest of the building going for a ride during the earthquake. If these columns are not designed to accommodate these large deformations, they may fail leading to catastrophic failure of the entire building, as was the case in most of the buildings that collapsed in the city. An example of such failure is shown in Figure 5, where half of the building (in the foreground) collapsed. Since there were several causalities, most of the building debris was removed by the time the EERI team reached the site.

Figure 5. Half of the building with soft-story collapsed during the January 26, 2001 Bhuj earthquake (Photograph by Goel).

Insufficient Confinement. As described previously, the columns typically had very light confinement, in the form of No. 2 or No. 3 ties with a spacing of 8 to 9 inches and 90-deree hooks. With large deformation and resulting extreme shear demands that occur in ground floor columns of lateral load resisting system with soft first story, the provided confinement was insufficient. As a result ground floor columns failed in brittle shear mode, which led to catastrophic failure in most collapsed buildings. Many buildings that did not collapse showed signs of significant shear cracking in the columns, as evident in crossing (diagonal) cracks in columns of building shown in Figure 4.

Insufficient Shear Core Details. In soft-story structures, the shear wall around the elevator is usually relied upon to carry much of the lateral load at the ground floor level. However, insufficient amount of shear wall core coupled with poor quality of construction, improper reinforcement detailing, and insufficient connection to the rest of the building contributed to poor performance of many buildings. As evident from Figure 6, the shear core is usually connected to the rest of the building by floor slabs only with no or very few beams. The anchorage of the reinforcing steel from slab to the elevator core is insufficient. As a result, the slabs just pull out clean from the core during the collapse with the elevator core standing. In some situations, the may have proved to be blessing in disguise as it may have saved the rest of the building from collapsing. The shear core itself is about 4 to 6 inches thick with very light reinforcement consisting of two layers of mesh formed with of No.3 or 4 bar at vertical and horizontal spacing of about 18 inches. This detailing may have been insufficient to transfer the lateral load at the ground floor, as evident from the severe cracking present in the shear core of the building shown in Figure 7. The shear cracks in the elevator core of most building were observed only at the ground floor, an indication that the first soft-story system imposed large demands on the shear core at this floor.

Figure 6. Half of the building pulled away from the elevator core that formed the shear core in the building (Photograph by Goel).

Figure 7. Severe shear cracking in the ground floor shear core (Photograph by Goel).

Poor Quality of Material. Although the factors listed above contributed to failure of many buildings, they alone cannot be the sole cause. In may instances, only one out of several similarly constructed buildings in the same apartment complex collapsed; others while suffering significant damage did not collapse. This indicates that poor quality of material may have been one of the main factors that caused collapse of many buildings; the earthquakes are known to be unforgiving in finding structural defects. Figure 8 shows bottom of a columns in a partially collapsed building. The concrete has simply disintegrated within the reinforcement cage; when touched, the concrete felt sandy with little cement. Also note that the 90-degree hooks have opened up which leads to little or no confinement of the concrete. Many of the times, the concrete cover to reinforcement was noted to be less than half-inch; most of the cover was provided by plaster used to smooth the columns surface. It is worth noting that most of the water supply in the outer part of the city is through ground water which is salty in taste. Usually the same water is used in preparing the concrete for construction. Therefore, the presence of salts may have also affected the concrete quality.

Figure 8. Poor quality of concrete (Photograph by Goel).

Figure 9. Part of the building shown in Figure 6 fell on the neighboring building indicating presence of torsional motions (Photograph by Goel).

Plan Asymmetry. In many situations, the buildings had significant asymmetry in the plan. The asymmetry usually resulted from uneven distribution of mass, which occurred after the building had been constructed. For example, there is some anecdotal evidence that in one of the buildings that collapsed during the earthquake event, owner of the building had built a swimming pool on one corner of the building. Since the type of residential building construction found in the city tends to be torsionally very flexible at the ground floor (usually shear wall core and a few columns provide the torsional rigidity), even slight eccentricities between the centers of mass and rigidity may lead to significant torsional motions. As a result, columns on one side of the building may experience excessive deformations. If not designed to accommodate these excessive deformations, they may fail leading to the buildings collapse. The excessive deformations due to torsion may have contributed to failure of at least one building. There is some physical evident to support this conclusion as half of the building shown in Figure 6 fell on the neighboring building shown in Figure 9, indicating that the portion that collapsed was moving more than the portion that was left standing. The direction of the building motion appears to be consistent with that expected due to eccentricity created by the swimming pool on one corner of the building.

Soil Conditions. The localized soil conditions also contributed to the collapse of many buildings. A thick alluvial deposit along the Sabarmati River underlies the City of Ahmedabad. Although a cursory analysis of location of building collapses would indicate no particular pattern, a careful analysis reveals that most of the buildings that collapsed lie along the old path of Sabarmati River. This becomes apparent when location of collapsed buildings are plotted on the city map and compared with the satellite image of the city. Note that the path of most of the building that collapsed in areas west of the Sabarmati River are closely aligned with the old path of the river, visible in the satellite image as a small loop of faint thick white line just west of the present river path. The south, southeast of the city, especially the Mani Nagar area, where additional collapses were observed falls between two lakes, indicating the presence of either poor soil conditions or possibly construction on non-engineered fills. While the evidence presented in Figure 10 is strong, it would be useful to further verify these conclusions with filed testing.

Figure 10. Building damage pattern and satellite image of the city of Ahmedabad showing old path of Sabarmati river (Courtesy Mr. S. K. Pathan, ISRO, Ahmedabad).

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My Photographs

Shaking in the Land of Gandhi:

Base of this statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhidham disintegrated during the January 26, 2001 Bhuj earthquake. However, the man himself was strong enough to withstand the shaking. This, in a sense, reflects the resolve of the affected community, which has been shaken but not broken. They will recover and build a better place for themselves. (Photograph Courtesy IIT, Kanpur)

My Pictures

(To view the photograph, click on the file name)

File Name	Location	Description
goel_eeri_001.jpg	Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad	An overview of the Vinoba/Mira Kutir. This one-story, URM building was built in early 1900 and provided housing for two of the important followers of Mahatma Gandhi during his struggle for independence of India. The tiled roof is supported on timber purlins. This building suffered moderate amount of damage shown in next few photos. Although this site is located right next to the Sabarmati river, no other buildings on this complex suffered any noticeable damage.
goel_eeri_002.jpg		Cracks in the masonry just above the door frame.
goel_eeri_003.jpg		A vertical crack running from top of the door frame to the roof level.
goel_eeri_004.jpg		A big block of masonry fell out during the earthquake. The block has simply been grouted in its original place with cement mortar.
goel_eeri_005.jpg		A vertical crack developed at the corner due to separation of the two walls.
goel_eeri_006.jpg		Exposed rebars on underside of a beam show very little cover. Also notice the rusting in the rebars.
goel_eeri_007.jpg		Horizontal and vertical cracks in the masonry wall due to separation from the frame and possible out-of-plane bending. This type of cracks were widely observed in many buildings in the city of Ahmedabad.
goel_eeri_008.jpg		Three monkeys used as an example by Mahatma Gandhi to illustrate his philosophy of speak no evil, see no evil, and hear no evil.
goel_eeri_009.jpg	Vidhya Laxmi Apartment, Near Sabarmati Ashram and Subhash Bridge	This ground plus four story (G+4) apartment complex is located very close to the Sabarmati river. Out of the two apartment blocks, one-half collapsed. This example building illustrates the typical construction details used for residential buildings. Typical construction is reinforced-concrete moment frame. The ground story is open to provide automobile parking, whereas frames at upper stories are filled with unreinforced masonry, usually 9 inch thick. This gives rise to a soft first story condition in the lateral load resisting system.
goel_eeri_010.jpg		Collapse of one-half of the apartment block. There were 5 casualties in during this collapse.
goel_eeri_011.jpg		This photograph shows a close-up view of the soft first story. Typical columns sizes are about 9 inch by 18 inch. Note sometimes arbitrary direction of the columns and a lack of uniform framing system, indicating design for gravity loads but not for earthquake (lateral) loads; the columns in the foreground appears to be an afterthought. Also note significant overhangs in upper floors.
goel_eeri_012.jpg		The columns typically had 8-#6 rebars. The transverse reinforcement was #2 smooth, mild steel ties with 90 degree hooks at an average spacing of 9 inches. Clearly, the transverse reinforcement was insufficient to provide any reasonable amount of ductility. As a result, the failure in most columns appeared to be in brittle shear mode.
goel_eeri_013.jpg		There appears to be insufficient lap length in column reinforcement. All rebars in columns are typically spliced just above the floor level. During failure, the upper columns simply pull out due to insufficient rebar lap lengths leading to pancake type collapses.
goel_eeri_014.jpg		There is a rush to retrofit buildings that did not collapse. The retrofit scheme in this apartment complex consists of adding 15 inch thick unreinforced masonry walls to minimize the soft first story condition, and jacketing some of the columns to increase their size by about 6 inches in both directions. The cost of retrofit is estimated to be about one-eight the building cost.
goel_eeri_015.jpg		A close-up view of the wall being added. Note that columns which are enclosed by the wall will not be jacketed.
goel_eeri_016.jpg		A column being prepared for jacketing. Note that outer plaster has not been removed; just the surface has been indented to provide bonding with the new concrete.
goel_eeri_017.jpg	Shivalaya Apartment Complex, S. P. Road	This ground plus four story (G+4) apartment complex has two units. Both units suffered total collapse of the soft first story, that was used for parking. On elderly lady, who could not run out, died in this building during the earthquake. At the time of our visit, both units were being demolished. Note people on top of this building carrying out the demolition work eventhough the building is on the verge of collapse during an aftershock.
goel_eeri_018.jpg		A close-up view of the total collapse of the soft first story.
goel_eeri_019.jpg		The building had severe cracking in walls through out the height. This one is a total loss.
goel_eeri_020.jpg	Mansi Apartment Complex, Satellite Area	One of the most publicized building failure, this ground plus ten story (G+10) residential-commercial complex experienced one of the most dramatic failure during the earthquake; 33 people are believed to have lost their lives in this building collapse. This photo shows one-half of one of the two units that collapsed.
goel_eeri_021.jpg		A close-up view of the collapsed portion of the building. Note the clean separation of the failed portion from the portion that remains standing. The two sides of the building were connected by the elevator core and the staircase well, except at the roof level where a penthouse spans both sides of the building. There were no cross beams connecting the elevator core and the staircase well to rest of the building. The anchor length of the reinforcement from the floor slab to the elevator core appears to be insufficient as the rebars just pulled out leaving a clean imprint on the elevator core.
goel_eeri_022.jpg		A close-up view of the elevator core and the stair well.
goel_eeri_023.jpg		The adjacent building was damaged when the collapsed portion of the Mansi Apartment fell on it indicating presence of torsional motions in the collapsed portion. The torsional motion appear to have resulted from uneven distribution of mass due to alleged construction of a swimming pool on one corner of the building at the penthouse level.
goel_eeri_024.jpg		A close-up view of the soft first story condition in the Mansi Apartment complex. The columns have very light transverse reinforcement in the form of #3 rebars at a spacing of about 9 inches. Note the overhang in upper stories, a typical detail used in residential construction to maximize covered area; the construction permit is granted based on the column footprints and the extra covered area above the ground floor due to overhanging portion is not counted. Also note shear cracking in the columns and arbitrary direction of the columns.
goel_eeri_025.jpg		Severe shear cracking in the shear wall that forms the elevator core at the ground floor level. There is no cracking above the ground floor, clearly indicating the high demands imposed at the ground floor level elements due to the soft first story condition. The reinforcement in the shear wall consisted of two layers of mesh with #4 rebars at vertical and horizontal spacing of about 18 inches.
goel_eeri_026.jpg		A close-up view of shear cracking in the elevator core shear wall.
goel_eeri_027.jpg		The damage to the shear wall is only in the first story; there is not sign of damage in upper stories.
goel_eeri_028.jpg		A temporary retrofit to provide gravity load support for columns in the building that did not collapse.
goel_eeri_029.jpg		Reinforcement cage for a column revealing very light transverse reinforcement.
goel_eeri_030.jpg		People retrieving their belongings from the portion of the building that remains standing.
goel_eeri_031.jpg		People are trying to retrieve whatever they can. In this case, a bookshelf being removed from the building.
goel_eeri_032.jpg		Articles retrieved are piled up next to the building.
goel_eeri_033.jpg		Priced possession of some young person is totally destroyed during the building failure.
goel_eeri_034.jpg		A crushed car that was pulled out from the building.
goel_eeri_035.jpg		A temple next to the collapsed building. The temple building appeared to have suffered no damage. Note the dust cloud from the debris being removed from the collapsed building just across the street.
goel_eeri_036.jpg	Shikhar Flats, Satellite Area	A portion of this ground plus ten story (G+10) apartment complex collapsed during the earthquake. Once again, the lateral load resisting system had a soft first story condition. The building plan appear to be quite irregular, raising the possibilities of torsion contributing to the failure. Conversation with residents revealed that this building was constructed in parts over a period of several years. The collapsed portion was built on an adjoining playground. Nearly 100 people died in this failure.
goel_eeri_037.jpg		The clock stopped at approximately 8:46AM, the time of the earthquake.
goel_eeri_038.jpg		Remains of a child's bedroom. Note the dolls in a corner of the room.
goel_eeri_039.jpg		Photo shows significant overhangs. The circular balcony overhangs by about 8 feet from the nearest column line. Also visible is the retrofit of columns in progress.
goel_eeri_040.jpg		Details of column jacketing scheme being implemented. Note that the rebar cage has been built around the original columns. The ties were welded to the longitudinal rebars. The concrete on the columns has not been chipped to provide bond between the old and new concrete. Also note that the rebar cage ends at the beam soffit and does not extend into the foundation; it appears that there were no plans to strengthen the foundation in this case.
goel_eeri_041.jpg	Apollo Apartments, Kochrab Area	Apollo Apartment complex consists of four 3 story + ground units. The construction is reinforced concrete moment frame with strong-beams and weak-columns, and open ground floor, typical of soft first story construction practice in the city. Out of the four units, which are about 20 years old, two collapsed. This photos shows the complete failure at the ground floor and pancaking of the second floor on the first floor.
goel_eeri_042.jpg		A close-up view of the pancaked story. People are trying to see if they can retrieve anything from the pancaked story.
goel_eeri_043.jpg		Debris being removed from the collapse site.
goel_eeri_044.jpg	Shivalik Building, Ellisbridge Area	This is a nine-story reinforced concrete building. The first two floors have showrooms/shops and the upper seven floors have office space. The plan of upper seven stories is T-shaped. The actual column lines are about 4.5 ft inside the façade; the façade is unreinforced brick infill supported on overhangs. The building suffered extensive cracking of the brick infills; the damage to the framing elements appeared to be minimal. Due to irregular shape (T-shape) of the building, torsional motions appear to have contributed to the damage. Note that most of the damage is to walls on the outer face of the side that is farthest away from the center of rigidity, i.e., the flexible side of the building.
goel_eeri_045.jpg		A close-up view of the damage to the brick infill. Note diagonal shear cracks in the wall, indicating that the wall, although considered non-structural and ignored in most analysis, participated in providing resistance and energy dissipation during the earthquake.
goel_eeri_046.jpg	Siddhashila Apartment, Vejalpur Area	Damage pattern in typical ground plus four (G+4) story residential construction. This photo shows damage near the top of the column at the ground floor in a strong beam, weak column, soft-first story type construction. Note slight buckling of one of the longitudinal bars and rupture of the other bar.
goel_eeri_047.jpg		Note the beam in the transverse direction which is significantly stronger (deeper) compared to the columns.
goel_eeri_048.jpg		This figure shows the overhang above the ground floor typical of residential construction in Ahmedanad. Also note the deep beam compared to the columns to your left and the relatively shallow beam on the right. The column at the junction of the two beams experienced some damage.
goel_eeri_049.jpg		The column may be covered with about half-inch of mortar plaster. This photo shows the construction joint just below the beam soffit, which becomes visible when the plaster is removed.
goel_eeri_050.jpg		The shear wall core around the staircase took a significant beating in many low-rise residential buildings. In this case, diagonal cracks typical of those due to shear are clearly visible.
goel_eeri_051.jpg		Shear cracks in cantilever beam that supports the floating column at its tip starting from first floor up; cracks have been highlighted by a marker. These cracks develop due to a large vertical (axial) force from the floating column that needs to be transferred to the columns at the ground floor. Note that to prevent further damage, a temporary support columns has been added at the tip of the cantilever. While this column would aid in transfer of vertical load from the floating column above, it may lead to creation of the short, shear-critical beam, which may fail in brittle manner in the absence of sufficient shear reinforcement.
goel_eeri_052.jpg		Shear cracks were noted on both side of the beam.
goel_eeri_053.jpg		Concrete has completely disintegrated within the reinforcing cage. The quality of concrete appeared to be very poor upon visual examination; there was very little cement content in the concrete. The lateral reinforcement consisted of #2 ties at approximately 9 inch spacing.
goel_eeri_054.jpg		Overall buckling of the longitudinal bars. It appears that once the concrete crushed, there was very little vertical load carrying capacity in the columns and the entire reinforcing cage buckled.
goel_eeri_055.jpg		The 90 degree hooks in the lateral reinforcement do not work very well in columns of lateral load resisting systems. They simply open up and permit buckling of the longitudinal reinforcement. Note that due to opening of the middle tie, the longitudinal bar to your right has buckled between the ties above and below. Also note the buckling of the second longitudinal bar from your left between the two consecutive ties, indicating excessive tie spacing.
goel_eeri_056.jpg		Close-up view of the column with ties with open 90 degree hook.
goel_eeri_057.jpg		Close-up view of another column where the concrete has completely disintegrated between the reinforcement cage.
goel_eeri_058.jpg		An example of complete pancake type collapse of reinforced concrete moment frame building. This building fell on the neighboring building shown in the background causing minor damage that building.
goel_eeri_059.jpg		Well designed and well constructed structures like this television tower performed well and escaped with no damage during the earthquake. A neighboring studio building suffered significant cracking of the unreinforced brick masonry walls.
goel_eeri_060.jpg	Adalaj, 15 Km North of Ahmedabad	This five-hundred year old stone block structure, known as Step Wells of Adalaj, suffered no damage during the earthquake. This structure is four-story tall at some locations.
goel_eeri_061.jpg		Life is coming back to normal after about a week in the area as evident from the visitors to the Adalaj Step Wells.
goel_eeri_062.jpg		The brick masonry in this five-hundred year old structure has stood the test of time. Except for spalling of cover mortar, which did not occur during the earthquake, there is no evident of deterioration of the masonry arches shown here.
goel_eeri_063.jpg		A close-up view of the brick masonry. Note the thick mortar joints between the walls.
goel_eeri_064.jpg	Sun Temple, Modera, 105 Km North-West of Ahmedabad	The 11th century Sun Temple, built by the Bhimdev I of the Solanki Dynasty, withstood the earthquake with no significant damage. This stone block structure showed slight widening of already present cracks.
goel_eeri_065.jpg		This photo shows the below ground water reservoir, which is empty now, next to the Sun Temple.
goel_eeri_066.jpg		The walls of the Sun Temple are covered with ornate carvings showing dancing figures and other scenes from the day-to-day life.
goel_eeri_067.jpg		The pre-existing vertical crack appears to have opened up a little more during the earthquake.
goel_eeri_068.jpg		Signs of slight movement at a corner of the structure.
goel_eeri_069.jpg		This close-up shows ornate carvings on the walls of the Sun Temple of various gods in different postures.
goel_eeri_070.jpg		Underside of the dome in the main temple building.
goel_eeri_071.jpg		Pre-existing cracks in the ring beam of the dome being monitored with glass strips pasted across the crack. One of the two strips cracked, indicating some movement during the earthquake.
goel_eeri_072.jpg		Life goes on.

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[1] The number of buildings collapsed or near collapse is approximate. The exact number will become available after the local authorities have completed a block-by-block survey of the entire building stock in the city.