Abstract-
In Albania, hundreds of masonry buildings were constructed during the communist period which
covers 45 years until 1990s. Most of these buildings were designed without any seismic criterion. To mitigate
seismic risk in Albania, structural performance of masonry buildings have to be correctly evaluated. In this
paper, the efficiency of nonlinear-static procedures with a particular reference to the FEMA 440 method, for
estimating the seismic vulnerability of masonry buildings has been studied at local and global levels. For this
purpose, one template design most widely used in Albania has been selected. Selection of the material properties
and plan features of the case study structure has been based on archive study. By means of pushover analysis,
capacity curves of the investigated building were determined and quantitative estimate of earthquake damage is
performed for various earthquake levels. This evaluation has been carried out in compliance with Eurocode 8
requirements and safety assessment was carried out FEMA 440 guidelines