Seismic performance of RC school buildings after 2011 Van earthquakes

School buildings have been classified by many of the design codes as important buildings, which have to withstand the earthquake excitations without any or with minor structural damages, and special care has to be given in their design and construction phases. This paper mainly aims to investigate the seismic performance of reinforced-concrete (RC) school buildings after 2011 Van earthquakes. The seismic performances of two damaged RC school buildings located in the earthquake-affected region are studied. First, the capacities of the selected buildings are assessed using nonlinear static procedures, and then, nonlinear dynamic time history analyses are performed to evaluate the seismic performances of the selected RC school buildings. Reasons for the observed damages are discussed. Further, recommendations are provided from the viewpoint of enhancing the structural capacity of the heavily damaged school building. As a result, to get an idea about the ductility demands imposed on the buildings, spectral acceleration values are compared with the seismic coefficients of the code that the buildings were adapted to. It can be concluded that the construction quality and detailing of the reinforcement are the key issues affecting the seismic performance of RC school buildings.