Sentral Pasar Raya

Sentral Pasar Raya contained many small shops within the four-story building.  The top floor consisted of a modest food court in the center and an open roof.  The building is a reinforced concrete moment frame with masonry infill.  The earthquake occurred at 17:16 on a Wednesday, and it is unclear as to how many people were inside when the ground shaking began.  Various people recounted a number of deaths ranging from 3 to 36; currently the precise number is unknown.  The earthquake caused a partial collapse, with a large extent of the damage occurring at the back of the building.  A few cooling towers were located on the roof at the back of the building.  It is likely that the uneven weight distribution accounts for the abundance of column failure that can be found at the back of the building.  The first story completely collapsed at the back, and the second story partially collapsed.  In addition, several columns/beams/floors/stairs appear to or may have failed throughout the entire building, although the extensive damage is centralized at the back.  The column located at the back of the building (the North East corner) failed extensively and clearly displayed stirrups tied to a meager 90° (rather than the US standard of 135°).  Additionally, every stirrup in the column was oriented along the same corner of the cage, rather than staggered about all corners.  The columns and beams throughout the building contained deformed bars, approximately size #6.

Figure 1. Sentral Pasar Raya – Front, Main Entrance.	Figure 2. Sentral Pasar Raya Rear Roof View.	Figure 3. Sentral Pasar Raya Rear Collapse.