Academic literature on the topic 'Earthquake mitigation'

Thesis (Ph.D)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010.<br>Committee Co-Chair: DesRoches, Reginald; Committee Co-Chair: Leon, Roberto T.; Committee Member: Craig, James I.; Committee Member: Goodno, Barry; Committee Member: White, Donald W. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

A survey of earthquake disaster mitigation strategies and building principles which could applied in rural areas of the Less Developed Countries. Earthquake vulnerability of traditional buildings and problems of earthquake hazard mitigation in these countries are discussed, along with some strategies that may help reduce the impact of future earthquakes. The performance of rural buildings during past earthquakes is analyzed to have a clear understanding of building behaviour during an earthquake. After the analysis, the research traces various recommendations and safe building techniques that would improve the earthquake-resistance of these buildings. Moreover, the study reviews problems often involved in implementing mitigation measures and in transferring technical information to semi-illiterate and unskilled workers, in conjunction with some methodologies on how to transfer information to the rural population. The study concludes by outlining the urgency for the need of pre-earthquake mitigation strategies and suggests some ideas to help narrow the gap which exists between the available information on earthquake mitigation measures and its application in those countries most affected by earthquakes.

In the central United States, undefined earthquake sources, long earthquake recurrence intervals and uncertain ground motion attenuation models have contributed to an overstatement of regional seismic hazard for the New Madrid Seismic Zone on the National Seismic Hazard Maps. This study examined concerns regarding scientific uncertainties, overly stringent seismic mitigation policies and depressed local economy in western Kentucky through a series of informal interviews with local businessmen, public officials, and other professionals in occupations associated with seismic mitigation. Scientific and relative economic analyses were then performed using scenario earthquake models developed with FEMA’s Hazus-MH software. Effects of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in central China and seismic mitigation policies in use there were considered for potential parallels and learning opportunities. Finally, suggestions for continued scientific research, additional educational opportunities for laymen and engineering professionals, and changes in the application of current earthquake science to public policy in the central United States were outlined with the goal of easing western Kentucky economic issues while maintaining acceptable public safety conditions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2005.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-292).<br>Large earthquakes near densely populated areas such as the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe events have caused extensive damage to the physical infrastructure and losses to the regional and national economies. Economic losses are due in part to direct damage and in part to business interruption caused by non- functioning infrastructure and interdependencies among industrial sectors. We developed a regional earthquake loss methodology that emphasizes economic interdependencies at regional and national scales and the mediating role of the transportation network. In an application to the Central U.S. under threat from earthquakes from the New Madrid Seismic Zone, we (1) evaluate regional and national losses from scenario earthquakes, (2) quantify uncertainty on the losses through loss risk curves including contributions from seismicity, attenuation, fragilities, etc. and (3) assess the effectiveness of alternative mitigation strategies. The loss assessment methodology includes spatial interactions (through the transportation network) and business interaction (through an input-output model) and extends geographically to the entire conterminous U.S. The losses reflect damage to buildings and transportation components, reduced functionality, changes in the level of economic activity in different economic sectors and geographical regions, and the speed of the reconstruction/recovery process. Evaluation of losses for a number of scenario earthquakes indicates that losses from business interruption may be as significant as infrastructure repair costs. The overall loss is also contributed by the increase in transportation costs due to network damage.<br>(cont.) As part of the uncertainty evaluation, we assess the sensitivity of earthquake losses to various component models and model parameters. Using a detailed model of regional seismicity, scenario earthquake building losses, and a relation between business losses and building losses, we develop risk curves for building losses, business losses, and total economic losses. The results underline the importance of considering uncertainty in risk assessment. Finally, we investigate the effectiveness of alternative loss mitigation strategies such as retrofitting of buildings or bridges and faster recovery of functionality for various occupancy classes or bridges. For a number of cases, we develop loss risk curves for mitigated conditions and calculate expected annual losses, which might be used for rational decision making e.g. through cost-benefit comparison.<br>by Erdem Karaca.<br>Ph.D.