Abstract: This study presents a simple and effective method to detect damages in reticulated structures. The developed theory approaches the damage location and extent problem in a decoupled fashion. First, the elemental stiffness matrix of the reticulated structure is decomposed to obtain the elemental stiffness connectivity vector. Then a damage localization criterion is defined as the dot metrix of the elemental stiffness connectivity vector and the eigenvector change. Subsequently the probable damaged elements can be determined according to the relatively larger values in the localization vector constituted by the damage localization criterions of all the elements. With the probable damage locations determined, the eigenvalue perturbation technique is employed to estimate damage locations and extents more accurately. The proposed method is demonstrated on a reticulated structure and its efficiency is demonstrated through a damage simulation. The results show that the proposed technique can give good predictions for both single and multiple damage cases even if noise is present. It has been shown that the presented procedure may be useful for detecting damages in reticulated structures.