Safe Enough? a Building Code to Protect Our Cities and Our Lives
Author(s): |
Keith A. Porter
|
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Medium: | journal article |
Language(s): | English |
Published in: | Earthquake Spectra, May 2016, n. 2, v. 32 |
Page(s): | 677-695 |
DOI: | 10.1193/112213eqs286m |
Abstract: |
Seminal works on earthquake engineering hold that greater seismic resistance of building stock is impractical; that the public is unwilling to pay for it; that the public has no proper role in setting code philosophy; and that current seismic provisions encode the proper performance goals. Recent projects undermine these conventionalities. In light of performance expectations for new buildings, the code seems to almost guarantee that a future large but not very rare earthquake will damage enough buildings to displace millions of people and hundreds of thousands of businesses from a major metropolitan area, producing a catastrophe more severe than Hurricane Katrina. A discussion with the public should take place in which we reconsider how to measure risk and how to balance risk and construction cost in code objectives. |
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18/06/2022 - Last updated on:
18/06/2022