Earthquake Damage & Building Codes

The primary objective of this research was to assess the assumption that improvements in building codes will lead to reductions in the extent of physical damage and loss of life incurred as a consequence of earthquake activity. The expectation was that the findings of this examination will support such an assumption.

As the discussion presented in the preceding section of this examination indicated, one could easily conclude from the findings of this study that enhancements of building codes have little effect on the level of physical damage and loss of human life experienced in future earthquakes. Such an assumption, however, would be false. In fact, buildings strengthened to meet enhanced building code requirements largely survive the effects of earthquakes that those building code requirements were designed to p

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perience of the WhittierNarrows earthquake, a 1985 revision of the Uniform Building Code incorporated a requirement for a strongcolumn versus a weakbeam design. This requirement was subsequently incorporated into California building codes. In October 1989, the 7.1 Richter magnitude earthquake struck at Loma Prieta in the San Francisco urban area. Major structural damage occurred to modern buildings in Oakland, San Francisco, and Burlinghame, extensive freeway damage was experienced, and 62 human lives were lost. Reinforced concrete building recently completed and constructed to the standards of the 1985 revision of the Uniform Building Code sustained extensive damage to shear walls. Major structural damage to modern steel frame buildings did not occur. As a consequence of the freeway damage experienced in the Loma Prieta earthquake, the State of California adopted new building codes requiring enhanced support at the connection points of support columns and transverse beams. The State of California also enacted the Earthquake Reduction Act of 1986 in response to the experience of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. The new law mandated the implementation of the California Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program, the objective o
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Los Angeles, Mexico City, Building Code, San Fernando, Lost Intensity, Construction Date, Research Methodology, building code, | |, LIFE Introduction, , Collapsedor SeverelyDamaged, / /, building codes, / / /, | | |, richter magnitude, los angeles urban, los angeles, angeles urban,  |, earthquake activity, uniform building code, mexico city,  | |,
Approximate Word count = 4295
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page)

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