Why do buildings collapse in an earthquake?

additional loads caused by inertia as the building's mass shifts during an earthquake. While the goal is to design a system that prevents collapse, it's equally important that a system is designed to allow some members to fail without triggering a “domino effect” failure of the entire system. Reason #3: A “Soft Floor” Fails. read more

Not all building failures result in total collapse. Building failures are also at play when large portions of a roof or façade fall from a building during or after an earthquake. These failures can occur because several diverse building elements have been treated like a single system when, in fact, they should be tied separately back to the structure, with space between them to allow for the differential movements of the dissimilar elements. read more

Buildings collapse in an earthquake because of the vibration of the ground. The tall building and even short buildings which do not have good foundation with ground can not sustain the vibration and fail. read more

If the earthquake is large enough and the lateral loads exceed the design strength of the building it can fail as the lateral loads generate shear stresses in the structure which if they reach a large enough value can cause shear or buckling failure in structural members or joints leading to collapse. read more