According to National Geographic, “On average, a magnitude eight quake strikes somewhere every year and usually some 10,000 people die in earthquakes annually. Collapsing buildings claim by far the majority of lives”(1). Seismic retrofitting has helped protect existing infrastructure during earthquakes. Although results show that this method of earthquake proofing is successful, this solution does have negative impacts economically and culturally.
During 2010, there were over 320,120 annual deaths that were caused by earthquakes according to the USGS National Earthquake Research. Not only do earthquakes cause many casualties, they also obliterate infrastructures, leaving the earthquake victims homeless. Earthquakes are the results of tectonic
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Firstly, the architectural improvements from the retrofitting lower the fatality and casualty earthquake toll since people are less likely to be buried or hit by collapsing buildings. This benefit is evidenced in the two recent earthquakes struck on April 22 in Ecuador and Kumamoto. Since Japan “has perhaps the strictest earthquake safety codes in the world, and though a few buildings around Kumamoto did collapse, the death toll there is still only in the low double digits”(6). In contrast, Ecuador, which is a country that has not earthquake-proofed due to financial reasons, most of the homes have extreme and widespread damage due to the recent earthquake. The death toll is already at 654 and still rising. Seismic retrofitting not only minimizes damage on infrastructure due to earthquakes, it also protects equipments and contents within the building. Another benefit of retrofitting is that it can help homeowners reduce insurance premiums, according to the Seismic Retrofit Association. The association also suggests that homeowners can recover their retrofitting cost in two to eight years through the reduction of insurance
Earthquakes, by Webster’s dictionary definition, are, “a shaking or trembling of the earth that is volcanic or tectonic in origin.” World Book Encyclopedia reports scientists believe that more than 8,000 earthquakes occur each day without causing damage. A little more than 1,000 each year are strong enough to be felt. Earthquakes occur in the general sense, anywhere on land. Other earthquakes go by different names, such as volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, large tidal wave storms that occur underwater, primarily in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1910 a series of fifty-two earthquakes struck Arizona between September 10th-23rd and it caused much of the Flagstaff residents to flee the area as even strong households cracked and chimneys crumbled. The fifty-two earthquakes were all light-shock earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0-4.2 that came right after another. If only one earthquake occurred in that timespan then it is likely that only objects would be knocked from shelves but no damage would be done to infrastructure, but the earthquakes happened right after another causing significant slight
On February 4th 1975 in Haicheng China there was a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. Over a period of months there were changes in elevation in land, ground water and unusual animal behavior which are all precursors to an earthquake. Days before the 7.5 magnitude earthquake there were foreshocks that triggered an eviction warning that effectively saved over 150,000 lives or injuries. This is a pro as this forecast saved thousands of lives and had the people of this area (knowing this was a place of seismic activity) took precautions, like that of earthquake resistant buildings, evacuation points, preparing disaster supplies among other preparations the following may not have happened or would have been less of a disaster.
This is one of the most commonly asked questions around the world. Earthquakes are very common because the Earth’s tectonic plates are constantly moving, because they are constantly moving earthquakes are happening quite often across the globe. Statistics show that over 1 million occur each year worldwide (see source 9), but earthquakes don’t have to be felt for them to have occurred. Statistics prove that 1 100 000 earthquakes happen per year worldwide that can’t be felt by humans. Statistics show that about 11 670 earthquakes occur that can be felt in the area of occurrence and sometimes even further
Earthquakes in California are certainly not a surprise. What is a surprise is their unpredictability and randomness. Geologists say there is roughly a 50 percent chance that a magnitude 8 or more quake will hit the Los Angeles area sometime over the next 30 years. And, over the past twenty years, the Los Angeles area has witnessed several earthquakes, and in particular, two that were quite devastating; the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, and the January 17, 1994, Northridge Earthquake. Given the certainty that earthquakes will occur, they still seem to come as a surprise, and leave many communities unprepared to deal with their aftermath.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was one of the largest earthquakes in the United States. Even though it only lasted less than a minute, the damages and aftermath of the earthquake were disastrous. These damages were not just from the earthquake, but also from other hazards that occurred because of it. It also had a huge effect on the people living in San Francisco. Many people, the government, and other countries helped the city of San Francisco with relief goods like food and clothing. The city used up their resources in order to rebuild the city and spent a lot of money. This earthquake also started a scientific revolution about earthquakes and its effects.
The total value of damage and losses caused by earthquake is estimated at US$7.8 billion — US$4.3 billion represents physical damage and US$3.5 billion are economic losses — some 120 percent of the 2009 gross domestic product (GDP) of Haiti
Before the San Francisco earthquake, not much was understood about earthquakes like how and where they occurred, or the destruction that could occur and the theory of plate tectonics was over a half-century away. Now scientists can answer the following questions: where a strong quake will likely happen, how probable it is, how intense it will be, how will the infrastructure fare, where to avoid building critical structures, and how do we design and build earthquake resistant structures. Scientists that flourished after this earthquake were Lawson, Reid and Gilbert but the most significant discovery is credited to Henry Fielding Reid, Professor of Geology at John Hopkins University. Most of the building structures that were destroyed or damaged were made out of wood. About 24,500 buildings out of the 28,000 buildings were built with wood structures and the other 3,500 buildings structures were made out of brick. With almost 90 percent of the structures being wood, fires and gas caused most of the
Kovacs, P.(2010).Reducing the Risk of Earthquake Damage in Canada: Lessons from Haiti and Chile.Toronto, ON, CAN: Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction,2010,3-9.
In the early twentieth century, San Francisco, a bustling city full of people from diverse cultures, stood in the midst of the Second Industrial Revolution. At this time, the brilliant inventions of airplanes, automobiles, and radios were changing the everyday lives of many. San Francisco had just recovered from the four-year burden of the bubonic plague (“Bubonic”). However, right when things were going back to normal, a destructive earthquake hit the city on April 18, 1906. Although the shaking lasted for less than a minute, the devastated city had crumbled buildings and a substantial loss of lives. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 consisted not only of earthquakes, but also of even more destructive fires; it had a scarring effect on the city and its people, yet it gave much of the knowledge that seismologists have today and allowed San Francisco to stand as a place of intriguing buildings and structures.
benchmark for the future, and integrated investigation into the effects of earthquakes in the U.S.
"The Great Quake: 1906-2006 / Rising from the Ashes." SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.
Authorities have attempted to implement codes or regulations, but that has proved to be very difficult tasks becasue there are many variables that effect the dynamic response of buildings. One way to try to avoid disaster is to evaluate seismic risk is to look at a buildings hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and location. Hazards are, for example, landslides ad soil type. Exposure is a building's occupancy and function. Vulnerability is the expected performance of a building's system, and location is how often earthquakes occur in the area. (Lagorio)
Taher, R. (2011). General recommendations for improved building practices in earthquake and hurricane prone areas. San Francisco, CA: Architecture for Humanity Retrieved from
Earthquakes belong to the class of most disastrous natural hazards. They result in unexpected and tremendous earth movements. These movements results from dissemination of an enormous amount of intense energy in form of seismic waves which are detected by use of seismograms. The impact of earthquakes leaves behind several landmarks including: destruction of property, extensive disruption of services like sewer and water lines, loss of life, and causes instability in both economic and social components of the affected nation (Webcache 2).