Center for Extreme Load Effects on Structures

Earthquake and blast hazards

Data from future earthquake scenarios indicate that the next major urban U.S. earthquake will have far greater consequences than those experienced in the past. Damage from a single large earthquake could reach $200 billion.  

Earthquakes can be the most damaging type of disaster.

  • They are unpredictable.
  • They affect a widespread region.
  • Secondary hazards include fires, tsunamis, landslides, soil liquefaction and water damage.
  • Lifelines, such as utilities, and transportation can be destroyed, with major economic loss and human suffering.

Blasts

The primary damage from earthquakes is from ground shaking, although secondary hazards often create more damage. Blasts from industrial accidents or terrorist activity also damage structures by shaking.

Although the ground movement is different, improving resilience to earthquakes also boosts a community's resistance to terrorist damage.

(1996. “The Oklahoma Bombing: Improving Building Performance Through MultiHazard Mitigation.” FEMA 277. Washington, DC: Federal Emergency Management Agency.)

See also:
CELES facilities
CELES earthquake resources:

Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory - (a CELES laboratory)

Mapping ground motion and response in Charleston SC region

FEMA Earthquake Hazard and Emergency Management Course (developed by CELES)
Related Links:

USGS Earthquake Hazards Program - maps of earthquake zones, recent quakes, soil science, tectonic information, and more.

Natural Hazards Center

Earthquake Safety for Buildings (FEMA)

National Earthquake Reduction Program

Earthquake Country - information from Southern California about protecting life and property before and after earthquakes.

Where/what is at greatest risk?

1. Buildings

  • In the U.S. West, buildings built before 1975.
  • In the eastern and central U.S., most buildings have no protection against earthquakes and blasts.
  • The bedrock in the central and eastern U.S. allows earthquakes to travel farther than on the West Coast: more communities are at risk from a single event.

2. Lifelines, which are critical to urban survival, represent 22 percent of the 'built environment,' such as

  • power and water,
  • communication systems,
  • transportation links, including bridges and tunnels.

3. The eastern and central United States where earthquakes are uncommon, but still a hazard.

(Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), 2003. Securing Society Against Catastrophic Earthquake Loss: A Research and Outreach Plan in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA.)

(National Research Council, 2003. Preventing Earthquake Disasters: The Grand Challenge in Earthquake Engineering: A Research Agenda for the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), National Research Council, Washington, DC, National Academies Press.)

(Martin, J.R., and E.C. Pond,1993. "Seismic Analysis of Relict Liquefaction Features in Regions of Infrequent Seismicity," Transportation Research Board Record No. 1411, National Research Council, January, 1993, pp. 53-60.)

Why prepare for earthquakes

It costs much less to prepare for earthquakes than it does to repair the damage afterwards (FEMA). Communities that are more resilient to earthquakes are also better prepared to survive terrorist attacks. They also prevent aging structures from creating danger to the community.

What can communities do?

1. Assess the risk and possible outcomes of earthquakes.

2. Identify lifelines to monitor and protect.

3. Encourage development of cost-effective techniques to prevent earthquake damage.

4. Strengthen building codes and develop regulations to protect existing buildings.

5. Devote resources and attention to earthquake planning. How well a community fares in a disaster ultimately depends on how much it talks and thinks about the hazard.

How can CELES help?

  • Provide engineering firms with the tools and information for decision making
  • Study the soil and structures to assess risk and identify priorities
  • Develop cost-effective technology for unique situations.
  • Sensors and early warning systems with automatic cutoffs for energy and water pipelines and connections
  • Community awareness and education
  • Visualization of scenarios for community decision-making
  • Geospatial mapping of earthquake potential, vulnerable pipelines and structures

Current issues being studied by CELES:

How well to earthquake standards developed for the soils and communities on the West Coast translate to the soil and communities in the eastern and central parts of the country?

What building technologies can protect existing structures that have little or no resilience to earthquakes?

What models can communities use to assess potential quake damage and choose affordable solutions?