by Sugeng Wijanto
Unreinforced clay brick masonry (UCB) housing construction is still often found in rural areas of Indonesia. This is a single-story building and the main load-bearing structure in these buildings consists of brick masonry walls built in cement mortar and a timber roof structure. This is non-engineered construction built following the traditional construction practice, without any input by architects or building experts. Builders follow a pattern by observing the behavior of typical buildings in the surrounding area. Buildings of this type typically experience severe damage or collapse in the earthquakes in Indonesia.
an EERI and IAEE project