Presented herein is a summary of the results from the first two years of a four-year study on damage detection and health monitoring of buried, segmental concrete pipes, such as those used in urban water distribution networks. The rapid assessment of damage to such networks from earthquake-induced permanent ground deformations is an essential component to recovery efforts. To identify the failure modes that occur in the pipelines subjected to permanent ground deformation and to assess the performance of sensor technologies for detecting these modes and for potential use in situ , large-scale tests were performed at the NEES Lifeline Experimental and Testing Facility at Cornell University. The predominant failure modes identified in the tests performed to date include compression at all joints and combined compression and bending at the pipe joints closest to the fault. Accurate measurements of the pipeline displacements and strains were recorded up to the compressive and flexural failure of the pipeline joints.