SEISMIC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF THE SEISMICALLY ISOLATED BAHÍA DE CARAQUEZ HOSPITAL

The New Bahía de Caráquez Hospital is a recent two-story steel moment resisting frame, which is situated in a seismically active area in the coastal side of Ecuador. The seismic isolation system of this building was designed, while using 156 double concave (DC) isolators according to the European isolator standard. The site of the hospital is nearby the epicenter of the 1998 Mw7.1 Bahía de Caráquez earthquake and some 120 km from the epicenter of the 2016 Mw7.8 Muisne earthquake. Several buildings collapsed during these earthquakes, and since nearly all suffered severe damage, people had to be evacuated. The Muisne Earthquake of April 16, 2016 is considered to be one of the most catastrophic in terms of the damage caused to hospitals and health centers in Ecuador. The purpose of this current study has been to evaluate analytically the seismic performance of the building. The specified seismic design does not comply with minimum ASCE 7, and is a very serious life safety hazard for the occupants of any hospital that may lose their basic functionality, leading to dangerous conditions for their patients.