ABSTRACT
On the 25th April, 2015 in the region of Gorkha (Nepal), a 7.8 Mw magnitude destructive earthquake caused tremendous damages and losses in the entire country. A characterization of the reinforced concrete (RC) buildings typology in Nepal will be performed as well as a report of the main structural and non-structural damages observed in the structures after the event is presented along the manuscript. Particularly focused on the performance of the infilled RC buildings, several research works have been performed that highlight the contribution of the infill masonry (IM) walls in the structural response of existing buildings, particularly the interaction with the surrounding RC frames. The out-of-plane collapse of the IM walls was not observed in the majority of the buildings, because of the low in-plane strength degradation and strong arching mechanism. The consideration of the presence of the IM walls in the structural response of the buildings will improve the buildings performance and decrease the damages observed.
