ANALYSIS ON SEISMIC DAMAGES OF THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN THE WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE AND SEISMIC ISOLATION DESIGN RECOMMENDATION IN THE IMPORTANT BUILDINGS RECONSTRUCTION

Wenchan earthquake is one of the most serious natural disasters in the history of our China. Its amazing destructive power destroyed lots of buildings in the hit areas. The school buildings were damaged so seriously for their special structure types that it made numerous injuries and deaths with bad social effects. Making a comprehensive inspection of more than 600 damaged buildings, 450 thousands square meters more in total, in Deyang city, a hard-hit area, buildings with different structure types or construction time showed different damaged patterns. Seismic isolation technique had been applied successfully abroad, especially in Japan, and buildings with seismic isolation design had good performances in the earthquakes before. Seismic isolation technique has developed well in recent years in our country. After the Wenchuan earthquake, some departments revised the Code for Seismic Design of Buildings and relaxed some restraint of seismic isolation design. Using the isolation design correctly, the buildings can get a good capability of seismic resistance. It is a good choice for the reconstruction of the important buildings.