Several damaged footings with cracks on their upper face were found after the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. To investigate the failure mechanism and the bearing capacity of the footings, 1/2 scale tests were performed using models simulating such damage. Accoring to the test results, ultimate strength was 106 tf, which is 2.0 times larger than the design load, and it had a relatively high ductility factor of 7. The failure mechanism of the tested specimen was similar to those of damaged footings, and this cracking might be caused by the concentrated tensile stress at the corner where the footing and column intersected.