by Amir Ali Khan
The housing type is most common throughout the Northeast India which lies in the most severe seismic zone of the country (Zone V – corresponding to MSK IX). Majority of this type of houses are used for residential purposes. Typically these houses are built with light weight locally available material like bamboo, wooden planks, thatch etc. These housing types have traditional system of bamboo/wooden posts. Bamboo posts are inserted into the ground to act as compression members and are tied with horizontal bamboo/wooden girders with the help of bamboo ropes (cane) to give a proper shape and framing action. However, there is no protection of bamboo/wooden posts against decaying/termites or any other natural cause. The performance of these houses during the past earthquakes is unknown. However, during the discussions with local people about the performance of these houses in the past major earthquakes, it was noted that the majority of houses survived.