Recently, researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, developed a solution for retrofitting old non-earthquake-resistant buildings with a technology that can prevent major damage to such buildings from earthquakes without compromising on their strength. The technology is called semi-confined unreinforced brick masonry (SC-URBM).
SC-URBM: The idea of the technology emerged from confined masonry, an earthquake-resistant construction system where the masonry walls are built first, and the concrete columns and beams are poured in afterward to enclose (confine) the wall.
