On26thOctober2015,anMw7.5earthquakestrucknorthernPakistan,withitsepicenterlocated45kmsouthwestofJarmintheHinduKushregionofAfghanistan.Theearthquakeresultedfromreversefaultingatadepthof210km,resultingin280fatalitiesandsubstantialdamagetosome109,123buildings.Regionalseismicity,characteristicsofrecordedstrongmotions,damagestatistics,andbuildingperformanceobservationsarepresented.Earthquakedamagewasmostlyconstrainedtoseismic-deficientunreinforcedmasonry(URM)buildings.Typicalfailuremodesincludedtoppledminarets,partialorcompleteoutofplanecollapseofURMwalls,diagonalshearcrackinginpiers,flexuralcrackinginspandrels,cornerdamage,poundingdamage,anddamageduetogroundsettlement.ThemajorityofhumanlossresultedduetofailureofURMwallsandsubsequentroofcollapse.URMbuildingslocatedinruralhillyareasclosertotheepicentersufferedmoreintenseandfrequentdamagethanurbanURMbuildingslocatedfartherawayinlargercities.
