Major construction faults in the construction of a building collapsed in an earthquake

Most of the damage we associate with earthquakes involves humanbuilt structures: people trapped by collapsed buildings. Here are some faults in construction that often leads to the collapse of buildings in an earthquake.

Typical damage to unreinforced masonry buildings at earthquakes

1.The lack of reinforcements coupled with poor mortar and inadequate roof-to-wall ties can result in substantial damage to a unreinforced masonry building. Severely cracked or leaning walls are some of the most common earthquake damage. Also hazardous is the damage that may occur between the walls and roof or floor diaphragms. Separation between the framing and the walls can jeopardize the vertical support of roof and floor systems.

2. Absence of adequate shear walls on the ground level caused damage to this structure. A close examination of the image reveals that the rough board siding, once covered by a brick veneer, has been completely dismantled from the stud wall. Only the rigidity of the floor above combined with the support on the two hidden sides by continuous walls, not penetrated with large doors as on the street sides, is preventing full collapse of the structure.

Soft story collapse due to inadequate shear strength at ground level, Loma Prieta earthquake (Oct 17, 1989 san Francisco)

Effects of soil liquefaction during the 1964 Niigata earthquake

3. In the cases where the soil consists of loose granular deposited materials with the tendency to develop excessive hydrostatic pore water pressure of sufficient magnitude and compact, liquefaction of those loose saturated deposits may result in non-uniform settlements and tilting of structures. This caused major damage to thousands of buildings in Niigata, Japan during the 1964 earthquake.

4. At Northridge earthquake, the Kaiser Permanente concrete frame office building had joints completely shattered, revealing inadequate confinement steel, which resulted in the second story collapse. In the transverse direction, composite end shear walls, consisting of two wythes of brick and a layer of shotcrete that carried the lateral load, peeled apart because of inadequate through-ties and failed.

Effects of completely shattered joints of concrete frame, Northridge

Shifting from foundation, Whittier(1 Oct, 1987 in US)

5. Sliding off foundations effect of a relatively rigid residential building structure during 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. The magnitude 5.9 earthquake pounded the Garvey West Apartment building in Monterey Park, California and shifted its superstructure about 10 inches to the east on its foundation. If a superstructure is not mounted on a base isolation system, its shifting on the basement should be prevented.

6. Also during construction, less use of concrete and the use of other cheap materials makes the building weak and more vulnerable to a collapse in an earthquake. 7. If the structure is more rigid than flexible then also the building is more likely to collapse because if the flexibility is more, then less energy is required to keep the building from moving during seismic waves. Therefore, sky scrapers are less vulnerable to a collapse than a three storey building.

Earthquake cases in Haiti and Chile

The recent earthquake on 12 January in Haiti (Logne near Port-au-Prince) had a magnitude of 7 Richter in the epicentre. With an estimated depth of 13 km under the city of 2 million inhabitants it resulted in massive damage and somewhere between 50,000 to 230,000 causalities. The number has been very uncertain because of a failing government infrastructure. The latest large earthquake occurred on 27 February 2010 in Chile (Maule region, Caete) had a magnitude of 8.8 Richter in the epicentre being 115 km from the city of Concepcin, with a depth of 35 km, being one of the largest earthquakes ever registered worldwide. The death toll in Chile however, was approximately 300, being more than doubled by the following tsunami to over 708, and counting.

The difference in death tolls are significant and caused by the following characteristics.

Haiti, 12 Jan 2010 1. Force of earthquake 7 on Richter scale

Chile, 27 Feb. 2010 8.8 on Richter scale= 500 x stronger

2. 54 aftershocks 4 Richter greater with two of magnitude 5.9 Richter

3. Poor quality houses, not built according to earthquake codes 4. Many single storey adobe houses in town, having a loose structure and large mass. 5. No exist government control on building practices and substantial corruption. 6. No history of large earthquakes and no information available on better design. 7. Large amount of informal building without involvement of architects and engineers.

Maximum aftershocks 6.2 Richter

Better quality houses mostly built according to the earthquake codes. House destruction along the coast also by tsunami flood. Government control on designs and reasonable government control with little corruption. History of very large earthquakes in same region and available documentation with pictures. Training of architects and engineers include the application of the earthquake design code.

Although the earthquake in Chile was 500 times stronger, the larger depth and the lesser population nearby are part of the lesser number of causalities. However, the largest difference is the better building construction practised in Chile. This is a result of one of the largest recorded earthquakes ever recorded in the same region in 1960 and a functioning government structure as opposed to Haiti which is a failed state for the last half century. The failed state situation causes lack of training of engineers and architects and a total lack of control on what was/is being build.