Rehabilitation and retrofitting aims to strengthen a structure to satisfy the requirements of the current codes for seismic design. In this respect, seismic retrofit is beyond conventional repair or even rehabilitation. The applications include different types of buildings, industrial structures, bridges, urban transport structures,marine structures and earth retaining structures.
The benefits of rehabilitation and retrofitting include the reduction in the loss of lives and damage of the essential facilities, and functional continuity of the life line structures. For an existing structure of good condition, the cost of retrofitting tends to be smaller than the replacement cost. Thus, the retrofitting of structures is an essential component of long term disaster mitigation.
In order to facilitate the issuing of governmental policies and practical engineering services regarding the seismic retrofitting , “Seismic Evaluation and Strengthening Guidelines for Buildings” is followed by this department.