Many school buildings suffered severe damage or even collapsed totally during M8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake on May 12. Destroyed or collapsed school buildings killed lots of students and teachers. Following the earthquake, a reconnaissance team was dispatched to epicenter region to learn firsthand about the performance of the civil infrastructure, especially about the school building. The performance of masonry structure, masonry structure with timber roof and RC frame structure were presented. Many structural or non-structural deficiencies were highlighted by the earthquake, which including: poor integrity, weak connection between components, lack of strength and rigidness of vertical bearing system, asymmetry leading to collapse laterally, poor construction quality. Reinforced masonry structure school building with precast flats had excellent performance.
