This research examined the relationship between the occurrence of earthquakes, building code changes, damage suffered as a consequence of the occurrence of earthquakes, and loss of life attributed to the occurrence of earthquakes. For the greater part, the focus of this research was on the greater Los Angeles urban area; however, some discussion of the occurrence of earthquakes in other regions was relevant to this examination and was included in this research. Similarly, the primary focus of this research was on the 1971 1994 period; however, some discussion of earlier earthquake activity was relevant to this examination and was included in this research.
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 protect against. It is the unanticipated and typically unknown manifestations of continuing seismic activity that is typically responsible for damage to previously strengthened structures.
Further, as the discussing presented in the preceding section indicated, comparisons of damage resulting from different earthquakes, particularly those separated by wide gaps in time, tend to be unreasonable efforts because of often dramatic differences in population densi...