12. minimising damage from EQ

Question 1

land use regulations

Answer 1

• set of rules implemented to restrict developments in certain areas
• avoid building at areas at risk of liquefaction
• liquefaction: vibrations from EQ cause saturated soil to flow like liquid
• low lying lands vulnerable to tsunamis
• e.g. Cali, USA, all new building developments not built across fault lines / areas at risk of liquefaction

Question 2

land use regulations limitation

Answer 2

• areas w/ privately owned buildings —> gov. compensate people moving out
• priv owners do not think hazard going to happen —> unwilling to move out

Question 3

infrastructure

Answer 3

• developed w/ advanced tech to withstand vibrations associated w/ EQ –> fewer lives lost, faster rescue and evacuations and less money spent on recovery for affected areas
  affected areas
• e.g. Taipei 101 –> damping device installed –> acts as counterweight: move in opp. direction to motion of EQ –> prevent building from swaying too much and collapsing

Question 4

infrastructure limitations

Answer 4

• expensive to build and maintain —> costly to convert buildings to include eq resistant filters —> NDCs cannot afford
• e.g. Indo, ring of fire : one of the most eq prone areas, little or no eq resistant building

Question 5

emergency drills

Answer 5

e.g. 1 Sept, Disaster Prevention Day in Japan, high magnitude EQ simulated like roads being blocked off

Question 6

limitation of emergency drills

Answer 6

• based on previous most serious eq —> can only evacuate, insufficient time in most cases (eq hard to predict)
• e.g tohoku japan 2011 : eq scale never experienced before —> drills and evacuation plans inadequate to prevent devastation of events

Question 7

EQ / tsunami monitering system

Answer 7

• warns people about impending EQ / tsunamis…

EQ: - e.g. Dec 2012 Northeast Coast of Japan
- after 1st shockwave detected, early warning system sent out nationwide of impending EQ

tsunamis: - USA Hawaii, network of pressure sensors, seismographs and deep ocean tsunami detectors to monitor and forecast path of tsunami

Question 8

eq and tsunami warning system limitations

Answer 8

• expensive to obtain install and use
• eq occurs seconds after warning sounder—> no time to evacuate
• lighting, noise, device failure interfere w/ seismograph —> cause false readings
• diff to obtain accurate results if eq occurs to close