how can we make earthquake proof buildings

6 Tips To Make an Earthquake Resistant Building

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How to make an earthquake resistant building?

How To Make Your House Earthquake Resistant

• Conduct a Home Inspection. The first and major step that every homeowner should do is to conduct a home inspection. ...
• Keep the Foundation Moisture Constant. ...
• Brace the Cripple walls with Plywood. ...
• Avoid Unreinforced Masonry Walls. ...
• Use Simpler reinforcement techniques. ...
• Use Flexible-kind of Utilities. ...
• Avoid Furniture, Fixtures and Decorations Near Bed. ...

How can you Make Your House earthquake proof?

How to Earthquake-Proof Your House

• Retrofit Your Chimney. Brick chimneys were responsible for half of all property damage that occurred during the most recent earthquake in Napa, California.
• Bolt Your Foundation. ...
• Brace Cripple Walls. ...
• Reinforce Your Garage Door. ...
• Shore Up Your Windows. ...
• Secure Your Home Systems. ...

How much does it cost to earthquake proof a building?

How much does it cost to earthquake-proof a house? While there isn’t a standard cost for earthquake retrofitting a home, the range is usually about $3,000 to $7,000. Larger homes, those built on hillsides, and those with basements or rooms over garages will typically cost more to retrofit.

How do you build an earthquake proof house?

How to Earthquake-Proof Your House's Foundation

• Identifying Weak Points. Having a strong and secure foundation is critical in the wake of an earthquake. ...
• Inspect the Foundation. ...
• Anchor the Foundation. ...
• Bracing Cripple Walls. ...
• Tying Slab Foundations. ...
• Post-and-Pier Foundations. ...
• Unreinforced Masonry Walls. ...

Why is earthquake proofing important?

Earthquake proof designs, made using quakeproof materials to construct earthquake proof buildings is a good investment to ensure the safety of human life and safeguarding property.

What are the natural disasters that threaten lives and cause destruction on a massive level?

Earthquakes are natural disasters which threaten lives and cause destruction on a massive level, as we have seen in the past. Safeguarding yourself and your loved ones is a responsibility you have to consider seriously. As a homeowner building a new home, you can include some safety measures to contruct a sound, earthquake proof home.

What materials are used to build earthquake proof buildings?

The materials used to construct buildings also matter in its earthquake protection. Though bricks and concrete are used often, but they not have much ductility. The ductility references to the property of a material to experience large deformations. One of the best earthquake resistant buildings materials is steel-reinforced concrete, ...

How to make a building earthquake proof?

One of the ways to make a building earthquake proof is to join the foundation to the building, provided the building sits on firm soil. Earthquakes knock buildings from the foundation. Tying the building to its foundation makes the whole building move as one unit.

What are the features of a building that are attached to the foundation?

Building features such as bearings are attached to building and the foundation with steel plates and when the earthquake hits, they allow the foundation only to move without the structure moving. The building’s horizontal movement is much reduced too, and the structure suffers much less change and deformation.

What is active mass damping?

Active Mass Damping is a method in which a very heavy mass is mounted on to building’s top, and connected to the viscous dampers which acts like shock absorbers. When an earthquake strikes, the building oscillates and the mass on top moves in opposite directtion, which results in the reduction of the amplitude of the mechanical vibrations.

What is cripple wall?

Use plywood to brace cripple wood. The cripple walls are the stud walls made of wood on the foundation’s exterior. The walls carry the house’s weight on top, and act as the shock absorbers during earthquake.

How to build a vertical structural system?

For the vertical structural system of a building which consists of columns, beams and bracing which functions to transfer seismic forces to the ground, structural engineers should build walls using braced frames, as they rely on trusses in a bid to resist extreme sideways motion. Wall trusses should be built using cross-bracing, which uses two diagonal members in an X-shape, instead of braced frames. Or perhaps in addition to them, they can use shear walls, which are vertical walls that stiffen the structural frame of a building and help resist rocking forces. Despite their advantages, shear walls may limit the flexibility of the building design, in a bid to overcome this, structural engineers can make use of moment-resisting frames. In such buildings, the beams and columns are given the liberty to bend, hence the joints or connectors between these beams and columns are rigid. This causes the entire frame to move in response to a lateral force while providing an edifice that’s less obstructed internally than shear-wall structures.

Why are earthquakes a bottleneck?

A bottleneck that most structural engineers face when designing buildings in earthquake-prone areas is the vagueness of just how earthquake-proof the prospective structure should be; this is because earthquakes vary in magnitude and causes, ranging from deep openings in the earth’s surface to severe disturbances across a fault line.

What is an earthquake?

Earthquakes are disturbances in the ground which can occur as single, sudden movements or a series of shock waves. In most cases, structures around the vicinity affected may fail to hold their weight in the face of higher magnitude earthquakes due to structural constraints.

Why is a stable foundation important?

A stable foundation is of the utmost importance when building a large structure regardless of the earthquake risk associated with the said structure. This is largely due to the role of a structure’s foundation in its long-term survival. A stronger foundation is more likely to deal with earthquakes a lot better.

What is the best way to design an earthquake resistant building?

Stiffness and Strength. When designing earthquake-resistant buildings, structural engineers recommend adequate vertical and lateral stiffness and strength especially laterally. Most buildings handle the vertical disturbances caused by quakes better than the lateral, or horizontal, movement. it is therefore of utmost importance ...

Why do buildings collapse during an earthquake?

Most earthquakes occur from side to side , unlike floods and snowstorms which affect buildings vertically. This explains why most “supposedly solid” buildings would collapse during an earthquake. This is because an earthquake-proof building design wasn’t taken into cognizance during the construction process. In most multi-story buildings, the floors ...

What does it mean when the Earth shakes?

The shaking of the surface of the earth as a result of the damaging effects of waves which in most cases results in the sudden release of energy in the earth’s crust – this is the meaning of earthquake means. Sometimes, earthquakes may be weak in the sense that they do not impact the earth’s surface, thus producing no violent tremors ...

Why Earthquake-Resistant Structures?

Earthquakes are defined as rapid shaking of the ground caused by the shift of rock and tectonic plates underground. The ground seems solid, but the upper crust of earth is deep and long periods of time cause pressure to build up between plates and fissures. When the pressure gives, seismic vibrations and violent shaking reverberate to the surface, immediately affecting miles of land. After the initial quake, aftershocks can occur resulting in further damage.

What are the threats of natural disasters?

Natural disasters are sudden and dangerously powerful, making them a serious threat to communities nationwide. Professionals have learned to anticipate some like hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes, but others can still strike with no warning. Earthquakes of any magnitude can occur any time of the year with almost no indications. They can affect small remote areas, or destroy large cities. Experts have discovered specific U.S. areas highly prone to earthquakes, but technically they could happen anywhere. In a country brimming with permanent steel, glass, and concrete structures, earthquakes possibly pose the greatest threat of widespread destruction.

Why is a stable foundation important?

A stable foundation is a major characteristic of building a large structure regardless of natural disaster risks. It is critical for a building’s long-term survival, and a stronger foundation is necessary to resist an earthquakes powerful forces. Different areas have unique foundational characteristics that define how a structure’s base needs to be reinforced. Professionals have to closely observe how the ground reacts and moves before building. Buildings designed to withstand violent earthquakes have deep foundations and driven piles. To stabilize these drastic measures, the foundations are connected so they move as a unit.

Why is it important to have an earthquake path intact?

It is vital the path is intact or else it won’t be able to dissipate an earthquake’s powerful shudders. Earthquakes happen less frequently than other natural disasters, but building earthquake-resistant buildings protects against all natural disasters.

What is continuous load path?

This is the continuous load path characteristic that safety professionals, architects, and engineers must remain wary of during design. If the structure is not comprehensively tied together, components will move independently and collapse will be imminent. The continuous load path is the earthquake’s journey through the building – laterally and vertically. It is vital the path is intact or else it won’t be able to dissipate an earthquake’s powerful shudders.

What is the greatest threat of widespread destruction?

In a country brimming with permanent steel, glass, and concrete structures, earthquakes possibly pose the greatest threat of widespread destruction. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) works in cooperation with the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) to research and design structural building practices ...

What is the characteristic of a building?

Safety professionals and building designers want the building to move equally so as to dissipate the energy without placing too much force on one side or another. If a building is irregular, then weaknesses will become apparent when the building sways. The weakness will compromise and the structure will see concentrated damage – which compromises the structure as a whole.

How is earthquake resistant construction produced?

Earthquake resistant construction is produced by taking into account the magnitude of earthquakes local to the area to where it is erected . In America, for example, a National Seismic Hazard Map produced by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the likelihood of where areas are likely to surpass a specific amount over the next half a century.

Why are metals ductile?

Metals tend to be highly ductile because they can be bent without breaking.

What are the weakest materials in a building?

On the other hand, certain substances such as filled-in and soft soil are weak when planning a building which needs to be able to withstand an earthquake. When loose substances such as these are used for the foundation of a building, they pose the threat of liquefaction.

What is the starting point of a building?

One significant starting point of the building’s construction is to ensure that the foundation of the building is stable. Some ground substances are more substantial and outperform others. For example, bedrock is known for its sturdiness and tends to be favoured as a substrate.

What is active mass damping?

Active mass damping is a system engineered that is not only reliant on the durability of the building’s foundation. In a basic description of active mass damping, a weighty mass is installed at the top of the building and acts as a shock absorber through a connection to viscous dampers.

What happens to steel cables after a movement?

After the movement has ended, the steel cables then essentially tug the building straight up. The steel fuses can then be reviewed and replaced where necessary, allowing the structures to continued usage within a small timeframe.

What are the causes of earthquakes?

Earthquakes can be caused by the movement of one of the Earth’s 20 moving tectonic plates, a volcanic eruption or are the effect of a meteor collision. The scope for creating earthquake-efficient buildings has much range, ...

What are Earthquakes?

Earthquakes are as natural to the planet as rain, snow, hurricanes and tornadoes. Unfortunately that doesn’t make them any less destructive. Earthquakes are just that - quakes of the earth. Ground shaking and road rumbling can lead to collapsed buildings, skink holes, shifting earth and - if they happen in the ocean - even giant tsunamis.

The Earliest Recorded Earthquake in History

The earliest earthquake in recorded history took place in 1177 B.C. in China. European earthquakes are noted as far back at 580 B.C. A Mexican earthquake in the late 1300s and another in Peru in 1471 are the first noted earthquakes in the western hemisphere.

Tectonic Plates and Earthquakes

The earth is made up of plates - tectonic plates - that float on the earth’s mantle and fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to make up our planet. The earth’s mantle is a thick layer of hot rock and magma. The mantle flows much like the currents in our ocean, constantly shifting and moving the plates.

The History of the Richter Scale

Charles F. Richter was a man working at the California Institute of Technology when in 1935 he developed a mathematical device to compare the sizes of earthquakes. Now known as the Richter scale, earthquakes are measured by his mathematical equation that breaks down the intensity of amplitude “waves” created by earthquakes.

How do Earthquakes Impact Buildings?

When earthquakes happen, the energy created by the force shakes the ground, moving through it in waves. It spreads out in different directions from the source, kind of like a ripple when you throw a stone into a pond. The biggest, strongest force is closest to the center.

What Areas Are More Prone to Earthquakes?

The areas that are most vulnerable to earthquakes depend entirely on their geographical location.

Can Buildings be Earthquake Proof?

Earthquake-proof buildings do not exist. To date, we are still unable to build something stronger than the planet. That being said, scientifically-backed design processes that capitalize on what we do know about earthquakes have allowed us to build buildings that are earthquake resistant.