An-Najah Staff

there are different factors affecting the over all vulnerability of a structure in addition to its construction type. These factors are generally applicable to all types of structures. To emphasize the necessary data required for assigning the vulnerability classes for Palestinian buildings, seven , represents the almost the main regions in West Bank, were investigated by collecting information based on the site conditions, regularity and configuration structural and architectural elements of buildings, adjacency, edge material conditions ,etc. For each city, two representative zones or more were selected for the investigation. The collected data and analysis were determined according to European Macroseismic scale 1998 (EMS) and calibrated by using Japanese qualitative method. The results showed that one third of the investigated buildings belong to seismic vulnerability of class A (Many buildings of class A will suffer heavy damage), whereas about 40 percent of the buildings indicate class B (Many buildings of class B will suffer moderate damage).