The damage effect on the structural capacity of school building columns due to tsunami inundation in Banda Aceh city after 16 years

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami caused catastrophic damage to buildings and infrastructure in Banda Aceh. The impact and damage depended on several factors such as the distance of the area from the coast. It was reported that in Banda Aceh, the tsunami wave inundation reached the city center and affected over a third of the population. Due to priority reasons at the time, although the structure was submerged in tsunami inundation, numerous public facilities including school buildings still in use without any proper repair. This study aims to determine the effect of column damage due to the tsunami inundation on the strength of the building. The school building of SMPN 6 Banda Aceh is selected as the case study. Seven analysis cases were carried out to simulate the degradation of the column cross-section caused by tsunami inundation. The reduction of the column cross-section was determined from 5 to 25% with increments of 5%. The analysis results revealed that the decrease in strength has occurred from the case of 5% degradation and the vulnerability started to increase with the increase of degradation level. In the case of 25% degradation, 90% of the structure’s column was at an unsafe level