Geotechnical buried structures with relatively light weight have been suffering from uplift damage due to liquefaction in the past earthquakes. The factor of safety approach by Koseki et al. (1997a), which is widely used in seismic design, predicts the triggering of uplift. However, a method for "quantitative" estimates of the uplift displacement has yet to be established. Estimation of the uplift displacement may be an important factor to be considered for designing underground structures under the framework of performance-based design (ISO23469, 2005). Therefore, evaluation of the uplift displacement of buried structure in liquefied ground during earthquakes is needed for a performance-based design as a practical application. In order to predict the uplift displacement quantitatively, a simplified method is derived based on the equilibrium of vertical forces acting on buried structures in backfill during earthquakes (Tobita et al., 2012). The method is verified through comparisons with results of centrifuge model tests and damaged sewerage systems after the 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu, Japan, earthquake. The proposed flow diagram for performance-based design includes estimation of the uplift displacement as well as liquefaction limit of backfill.