EEFIT UK Team Draft Report Ready + Virtual Disaster Viewer

The EEFIT UK earthquake field investigation team has prepared a draft web report. This will be available fro download on tuesday from the EEFIT website: www.eefit.org.uk

Images from the field can also be seen on the Virtual Disaster Viewer at www.virtualdisasterviewer.com

These georeferenced images are presented together with pre- and post- earthquake satellite images and existing mapped faults. We have not finished uploading our photos yet, but a selection is there. If any other team would like to use this facility to upload info please contact me t.rossetto@ucl.ac.uk.

Onna vs. Monticchio

Today we visited a number of small villages south-east of l’Aquila, including Onna and Monticchio. Read more

Related EERI Publications

EERI members can download the following publication at no charge from the members-only area of the web site http://www.eeri.org/site/membership/membership-renewal. A limited number of printed versions are available free-of-charge to members and nonmembers by calling 510-451-0905 or e-mailing EERI Here.

Recent Italian Earthquakes: Examination of Structural Vulnerability, Damage, and Post-Earthquake Practices, by Joe Maffei, Paolo Bazzurro, Joshua Marrow, and Agostino Goretti. Italy has comprehensive systems in place for the collection of earthquake damage data and the prediction of building vulnerability. Published in 2006, this 180-page report capitalizes on the “living laboratory” of earthquake damage experience and research in Italy, where sophisticated methods of damage and vulnerability assessment have been developed over the last 30 years. The report explores the distinctive Italian practices from several angles: by reviewing Italian damage and vulnerability assessment procedures in general, by studying specific buildings, by examining the uniquely detailed Italian methods of classifying construction types, and by reporting findings based on Italian data collection.

EERI members can download the following special issue of Earthquake Spectra originally published in July 2004 (http://scitation.aip.org/vsearch/servlet/VerityServlet?KEY=EASPEF&ONLINE=YES). It is also available to members and nonmembers for $25 plus shipping from http://www.eeri.org/cds_publications/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23_26&products_id=246

2002 Molise, Italy, Earthquake Reconnaissance Report, Paolo Bazzurro and Joe Maffei, tech. eds. On October 31 and November 1, 2002, two magnitude Mw 5.7 earthquakes struck the rural Molise region in southeastern Italy, killing 30 people, 27 of whom were children trapped in the collapse of an elementary school. This 360-page report covers the findings of ongoing studies of the technical and social lessons afforded by the disaster. In 1998 the area was declared a medium seismicity zone, but an administrative delay in updating the seismic zonation meant that up until the time of the earthquake, there were no seismic requirements for new construction

Anecdotes

In the past week of working in the field in L’Aquila and the surrounding areas, the EERI/PEER team has met amazing people with incredible stories of survival. We present the following two in this segment.

After walking through the devastated historic center of Tempera escorted by a firefighter, we saw a man and a woman who were anxiously looking at the fallen buildings. We started talking and asking about the earthquake, and whether their house was affected. We were told that their house was fine, but that the woman’s parents’ house was in the historic center and had been destroyed. After feeling a foreshock at 2 a.m., they called their daughter, whose house was outside the historic center, to come pick them up, since they didn’t feel very safe. That phone call probably saved their lives; their house was destroyed when the earthquake hit at 3:32 a.m.

The historic center of San Gregorio was also devastated, with the church and most historic buildings completely destroyed. When walking through what was once the small historic center, we encountered a man on a tractor who was rifling through the debris and gathering what he could. We soon found out that his elderly father had lived in what was now a pile of rubble; when the earthquake hit, the man and his brother, whose house was a few hundred meters away, immediately ran to the wreckage and were able to save their father. He then insisted that we take a picture of him with one of his finds, and he brought his prized find from the back of the tractor: a fully cured prosciutto covered in dust. Peeking out from the tractor were two other prosciuttos, a dozen bottles of homemade wine, and a huge jar of dried cherries, all of which were salvaged from the rubble.

As he drove away in his tractor, he yelled, “We know what we’re eating tonight!”

Near-real-time estimate of human losses

laquila-delays

EERI/PEER team visits San Salvatore hospital

This is a somewhat belated post: On Saturday the 18th the EERI/PEER team visited the regional hospital serving the city of L’Aquila. Read more

Observations on RC construction from EERI Team

The large majority of reinforced concrete buildings in the epicentral area fared well if we consider that they were subjected to a ground motion equal or larger than those they were designed for. In the last 25 years L’Aquila and its province were considered to be in the Class 2 seismic area of the building code and these buildings were designed for a horizontal acceleration of 0.25g. In the epicentral area maximum accelerations up to 0.67g were measured although a recording station went off scale at 1g (see discussion below). Read more

Observations from EERI/PEER Team

From EERI/PEER Team: Masonry Damage Read more

Virtual Disaster Viewer for L’Aquila Earthquake

The website allows users to view recent photos taken over pre and post event satellite imagery.  The map viewer also allows you to view oblique “bird’s eye” views of pre event fly over imagery.  To view recent photographs of damage, be sure to place a checkmark into the “Show Photos” box.   You will then see pin points show up in the map which you can click to view the photos.

The website is located at:  http://virtualdisasterviewer.com/vdv/index.php?selectedEventId=2 Read more

Observations from Degenkolb Engineers – Building Performance in L’Aquila

The structures located outside of the historic core in L’Aquila are typically constructed of  unreinforced masonry or buildings with a reinforced concrete frame(beams/columns) with hollow clay tile infill partitions.  From our observations of the reinforced concrete frame structures, we have frequently seen little damage to the concrete frames. There are occurrences of hollow clay tile that has undergone a shear mechanism or experienced out-of-plane failure due to lack of anchors at the top/bottom of the walls. Read more

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