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Earthquake Resistance Building

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Earthquake Resistance Building
Earthquake Resistant Building Construction - 1
A short Research Paper on Affordable Solution for Earthquake Resistant Building Construction in Haiti by
Dawang Sherpa
Submitted to
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology-SAIT
Calgary, Alberta
February 24, 2010
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Some Concepts on Earthquake Resistant Construction
2.1 2.2 2.3
3.1 Adobe Buildings with Earthquake Resistant Components
3.2 Rice Straw/Wheat Straw Buildings
3.3 Bamboo & Wooden Houses
3.4 Masonry Buildings with Earthquake-Resistant Components
3.5 Other Practices
4. Recommendations
5. Conclusion
References
Earthquake Casualties
Reasons for Buildings’ Failure during Earthquake
Earthquake-Resistant Building Technologies
3. Low Cost Earthquake Resistant Building Technology and Practices
Earthquake Resistant Building Construction - 2
Earthquake Resistant Building Construction - 3
1.0 Introduction
On January 10, 2010, an earthquake of 7.0 M magnitude struck Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people. At least 300,000 Haitians were injured and around 1.5 million people became homeless (BBC News: One Minute World News, Americas, 2010). However, in October of 1989, the same magnitude of earthquake in San Francisco killed only 62 people and injured 3757 people (San Francisco Earthquake History 1915-1989). Why did Haiti suffer so much devastation and lost so many of its innocent citizens? (Joyce, 2010) states, “....buildings were barely built to engineering standards and were hopelessly fragile in the grip of such a strong quake.’’
It is clear that there is higher probability for earthquake occurrences in Haiti because it lies on the earthquake zone just above the fault of North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The potential for a major earthquake at any given time was always in Haiti. One of the major reasons for such an overwhelming loss of life and property in Haiti is due to inappropriate construction, which lacked earthquake proof designs. Most of


References: Ambrose, J., & Vergun, D. (1995). Simplified Building for Wind and Earthquake Forces (Third Edition ed.). New York,NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Battersby, S.(2009). House of Straw, Retrieved February 15, 2010, from http://nees.unr.edu/projects/straw_bale_house/house_of_straw.pdf BBC News: One Minute World News, Americas. (2010, February 10). Retrieved February 10, 2010, from BBC News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8507531.stm Blondet, M., M., G. V., & Brzev, S. (2003, March). Earthquake-Resistant Construction of Adobe Building: ATutorial. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.world- Housing.net/uploads/WHETutorial_Adobe_English.pdf Joyce, C. (2010, January 14). NPR News: Top Stories. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from Npr News Website: http://m.npr.org/news/front/122547242?singlePage=true San Francisco Earthquake History 1915-1989. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2010, from The Virtual Museum of City of San Fransisco: http://www.sfmuseum.org/alm/quakes3.html Sarkar, R. (2006). Post Earthquake Housing Construction Uusing Low Cost Building Material. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://conf.ncree.org.tw/Proceedings/i0951012/data/pdf%5C4ICEE-0275.pdf Scawthorn, C. (2007). Designing and mitigating earthquakes, Inaccessscience@McGraw- Hill, Retrieved February 5, 2010, from http://www.inacessscience.com DOI-8542.YBO70130
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