Seismic performance of South Nias traditional timber houses: A priority ranking based condition assessment

Abstract

Due to incessant earthquakes, many historic South Nias traditional timber houses have been damaged while some still stand today. As Nias is part of an extremely active tectonic region and the buildings are getting older by day, it is essential that these unique houses are well maintained and functioning well. A post-earthquake condition assessment was conducted on 2 selected buildings; \'Buildings\'was found out to be poor and the main structural members were not performing as intended. In \'Buildings B\',the columns were not well anchored to the ground, no tie beams to tie the columns together, and eventually, the timber columns moved in various directions during the earthquake. The frequent earthquakes along with deterioration due to lack of proper maintenance program are responsible for the non-survival of the buildings. Thus, a process guideline for managing the maintenance of these buildings was proposed. This is necessary because managing the maintenance works could help to extend the life of the buildings and seek to avoid the need for potentially expensive and disruptive intervention works, which may damage the cultural significance of the buildings.