[HN Gopher] How to Engineer Buildings That Withstand Earthquakes ___________________________________________________________________ How to Engineer Buildings That Withstand Earthquakes Author : pseudolus Score : 11 points Date : 2023-02-22 22:42 UTC (1 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.scientificamerican.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.scientificamerican.com) | zepearl wrote: | > _Many seismologists thought the East Anatolian Fault--the one | involved in the Turkey-Syria quakes--was likely to produce a | maximum magnitude of 7.4 or 7.5. But the February 6 earthquake | was a 7.8--about four times bigger on the logarithmic scale of | earthquake magnitudes. So it is possible that some structures | built to code in Turkey may simply have experienced more force | than they were built to withstand, Taciroglu says._ | | There were probably some such cases, anyway this is as well | interesting: | | From https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/erzin-turkey- | earthquake-b... : | | _The city that didn 't collapse: How Erzin became a haven from | Turkey's earthquake - Residents and officials say Erzin suffered | no deaths and saw no buildings collapse, and they credit a long- | standing policy not to allow construction that violated the | country's codes._ | | From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erzin,_Turkey : | | _Erzin was the sole district of Hatay Province to have none of | its buildings collapse in the aftermath of the 2023 Turkey-Syria | earthquake, despite being closer to the epicenter than other | cities such as Iskenderun and Antakya which suffered greater | damage. The mayor, Okkes Elmasoglu claimed it was due to strict | construction of housing; the district mostly consists of single | houses, local authorities prohibited unsafe and substandard | construction to a much greater degree than nearby areas, and | apartment blocks do not have many floors. Even older structures | such as houses from 60 years ago survived the earthquake.[4] | Additionally, the city had fared relatively well during previous | earthquakes. However, engineers and scientists (such as Omer | Emre) attributed the town escaping unscathed to geological | factors, such as Erzin 's relatively higher sea level compared to | surrounding towns, and it being built upon harder ground, | consisting of bedrock and coarser grains than sand, compared to | softer, water-laden sediments like that of cities to the south._ ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-02-23 23:00 UTC)