Posted Jan 27, 2017, 11:41 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 143
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Highlights from the second link http://vanmag.com/city/are-we-ready-for-the-big-one/
"New structures built in Vancouver are designed to withstand perhaps the worst earthquake that science can imagine: a catastrophic, one-in-2,500-year event. These are among the highest standards anywhere in the world. Yet, as violent shaking goes into the fourth and fifth minutes, even these standards might not suffice.
“All those apartment buildings along the water — I wouldn’t buy a condo in one of those. I wouldn’t even rent one,” says Peter Yanev, an engineer from California who has personally surveyed the aftermath of 45 earthquakes around the globe and co-founded one of the world’s largest earthquake risk engineering firm
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Among Yanev’s greatest concerns in Vancouver are new residential high-rises: “pop-up” towers with catchy names and chic sales offices. “You had this huge infusion of Asian money a few years ago. They couldn’t care less about earthquakes,” he says. “The pressure is to keep the cost down.” He points out that much of the damage in the 2010 Chile quake, which claimed more than 500 lives and destroyed nearly 400,000 buildings, was suffered by newer high-rises. To reduce costs, engineers had designed buildings with fewer, thinner shear walls — the internal concrete bracing that resists shaking. Many new high-rises in Vancouver and across North America are built to similar standards. “Vancouver has never suffered a major earthquake, and that’s unfortunate because the level of concern is not there,” Yanev says. “I have a feeling that after the next big earthquake, when we have a couple of high-rises come down, we’re going to finally adopt higher standards.” Even if the city’s high-rises do manage to ride out the shaking, broken glass and falling debris constitute a major hazard, raining down with lethal force on the streets below."
In relation to what Spr0ckets has mentioned, the article also says:
"As shaking continues, sandy, wet soils — prevalent all around the Fraser Delta — lose their integrity, a process known as liquefaction. Foundations are undermined; roads and buildings crumble. Drivers inside the 629-metre-long Massey Tunnel, which is sunk up to 22 metres deep in the loose sand and silt of the Fraser River bed, endure a harrowing ride but should emerge safely thanks to seismic fitting completed in 2006. In mountainous areas, especially in North and West Vancouver, landslides barrel through residential neighbourhoods. Elsewhere, however, single-family homes ride out the shaking with minimal damage."
And interestingly, and also true... I know someone whose concrete home didn't fare as well as the old wooden homes in their neighborhood when a big earthquake happened in that country not too long ago.. (not saying that highrises should be built with wood here, k?.. Lol)
" “Wood-frame buildings are actually remarkably resilient,” says Ventura, explaining he’s confident weathering the quake in his 1929 heritage home. Chimneys have been known to crash through roofs, however, and homes not bolted to their foundations slip right off, severing utilities, rupturing gas lines, and triggering fires throughout the city."
So all these.. Food for thought.. Mother nature will take its course. Lol!
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