Book excerpt: During earthquakes, masonry buildings are the most affected, and consequently, damage to these buildings leads to massive loss of life and property. Masonry buildings comprise probably the greatest share of overall housing stock, and in turn, understanding their performance during earthquakes is a pivotal problem in seismic regions. Masonry Construction in Active Seismic Regions presents details on the kinds of masonry building found in seismic regions of the world. The title describes interventions, such as retrofitted solutions, dynamic identification, and improved construction after earthquakes, that are equally applicable to regions of moderate and high seismicity. The book covers representative masonry buildings from active seismic regions, the material properties of masonry construction, numerical modelling techniques and computational advances, seismic performance of non-engineered masonry buildings, resilience in typical construction, retrofitting, and the cultural values and structural characterization of heritage masonry buildings in active seismic regions. This book is unique in its global and systematic coverage of masonry construction in seismic regions. - Identifies the material properties of masonry construction from a seismic perspective - Covers representative masonry buildings from active seismic regions, providing a benchmark to understand existing building stocks - Provides numerical modelling techniques and reviews computational advances, including a large test database - Details the seismic performance of non-engineered masonry buildings, as well as the cultural values and structural characterisation of heritage masonry constructions - Analyses typical or vernacular constructions which have earthquake resilient features, such as Dhajji-Dewari, Borbone, Pombalino, and Himis