An 8.0 magnitude earthquake attacked the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin on May 12

2008.The epicenter was located somewhere near Yingxiu Town

Wenchuan County.A large number of buildings were damaged to different degrees in the epicenter region.Based on large amounts of statistical data from the field investigation

this paper presents the characteristics of performance and damage of buildings of such types as masonry

infilled RC frame

masonry with ground RC frame or local ground RC frame

and staircase.Code requirements in aseismic design are discussed together with a qualitative analysis of the observed damage of structures.The earthquake has revealed many structural deficiencies

such as poor detailing in a masonry structure

soft-columns and strong-beams

soft and weak stories in a frame

poor layout of infilled walls

and poor quality of construction.Finally

we make some points as follows: （1） besides RC structures

masonry structures are also suitable to resist earthquakes if they are properly designed together with good detailing and high quality of construction;（2） disregard of the effect of infilled walls in structural designs was one of the main reasons for the widespread destruction of RC frames in the epicenter region;（3） the detailing of stairwells should be designed by considering earthquake effect.