This study proposes an improved method for rapid visual screening (RVS) to assess the seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in the hilly region, especially in the northern part of the Indian Himalayan region. Several small towns in the Indian Himalayan region are rapidly expanding their building infrastructure to meet the demand of ever increasing population and tourists. An extensive survey of the existing buildings in Mandi, which is one of the populous towns of the Himachal Pradesh state in northern India, is carried out to assess the seismic vulnerability of buildings. A total of 573 RC buildings were assessed using existing pre-earthquake RVS guidelines, and critical attributes that are known to be associated with the performance of the buildings under earthquake shaking were noted. It was noticed that there is an inconsistency in counting the number of stories in the hilly buildings when different RVS methods are employed. Therefore, a numerical study is also performed to establish guidelines for counting the number of stories in hilly buildings for their RVS. Further, based on the vulnerable attributes in the buildings of hilly region, an improved RVS method is proposed. It is shown that the proposed method is convenient to use for segregating the RC buildings in the hilly region according to the damage that they are expected to experience.

Earthquake; Hilly Buildings; Rapid Visual Screening; Seismic Vulnerability; Vulnerability Score.