Seismic risk for vernacular building classes in the fertile Indus Ganga alluvial plains at the foothills of the Himalayas, India

Low-cost housing initiative by the Government of India with the intention of providing housing for all is going to be effective only when sufficient understanding is developed about their ability to resist natural hazards and prevent disasters. The vernacular building classes, in the Indus Ganga basin, like Adobe with mud or lime and cement mortar, bricks with tiles or stone or metal sheet or concrete slab roof, are compared with reinforced concrete building standards, to assess the damage and loss estimates due to futuristic earthquake hazard at the foothills of the Himalayas