How We Design Buildings To Survive Earthquakes

Attempts to build earthquake-proof buildings keep getting better and better, but how exactly do these methods of preventing collapse work?


Read More:
Invisibility Cloak Could Hide Buildings from Quakes
“Borrowing from the physics of invisibility cloaks could make it possible to hide buildings from the devastating effects of earthquakes, say physicists in France and the UK.
The “earthquake cloak” idea comes from researchers in the UK, Italy and France, some of whom were the first to show that the physics of invisibility cloaks could have other applications – designing a cloak that could render objects “invisible” to destructive storm waves or tsunamis.”
In Search of an Earthquake-Proof Building
“It's a sobering fact: Earthquakes alone don't kill people; collapsed buildings do.
But can people engineer buildings that wouldn't crumble when subjected to the rumblings of the Earth?”

Earthquake-Proof Skyscrapers Hide From Seismic Waves
“Today's engineers buffer buildings with metal springs, ball bearings and rubber pads, all designed to sop up the energy from seismic waves. This summer, a team of physicists at the University of Liverpool in England and the French National Centre for Scientific Research tested a different strategy: redirect the waves altogether.”
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[wndmier]

I'm from Chile, that's all i have to say

[ElGroggy]

I was in Tokyo during the 2011 Tohoku earthqualke. The floor of the house was swaying for about 30 seconds. Since I was in Japan the immediate danger was falling object from shelves, therefore hiding under the table was the safest measure to take.
Also I had prevention earthquake training so I knew what to do during and after the earthquake.

[rtswift]

has anybody here not experienced an earthquake?

[pilar]

i'm here in 2020.


i need help.

[bars]

On my last earthquake I ran, push my wife out of the door frame, got into my room and held my LED screen.. I saved it from breaking off the wall and falling to the ground.

[RJTheHero]

This... This is the reason why I'm subbed to D-News. A lot of their resent stuff has mainly been hypothetical theorization. I personally like information that is solidified as fact, not listen to ideas that haven't been proven yet.

[DaddeGamer]

I didn't live through an earthquake, but my mother did in her homeland of Guatemala.She explained that there was a brick wall about to tip over and flatten her. For some miraculous reason, it ended tipping and falling the opposite way which enabled her to survive the earthquake. And she went to have me after. She is a warrior and defied death and unbelievable amount of times (including a series of strokes a month before hurricane Sandy [we resided in Long Island, NY at the time]). She passed away this past October. I miss her.

[trickstrgod]

I experienced my first earthquake in Virginia back in '11. It wasn't very big, but since I had never felt one before, it was pretty surprising and quite frightening, to be honest.

[krayzeeadee]

I live in California. The last earthquake that I can remember being more noteworthy than others caused a reaction in my family and I resembling contempt. I remember my dad looking at me and saying "well, I guess we better step outside real quick."

[Altrantis]

As a Chilean, the scariest part of an earthquake is not knowing beforehand if the building you're in in earthquake resistant. It's usually the case, but you often have no way of knowing.

[vpr]

Well I live in Chile, so gimme ten of those... And yeah I've been through several earthquakes (again, I'm Chilean), not that terrifying, what I saw and heard during the earthquake is things swinging from side to side, sometimes you see lights which seem to be static between the earth and the atmosphere (big lights, like meteors when they hit earth), you feel the earth moving and crunching beneath your feet, some people cry some shout some pray, and some just stay calm and make sure there's nothing above their heads and the ground is not opening under their feet(like me), not a big deal after so many of them.

[shenrr]

As a Chilean, I liked the video. Yet there's a ton of other techniques for handling this. Being one of the most seismic active countries, Chile has a lot of different strategies and mechanism enforced in every construction, that being the reason for having such a tiny damage from big earthquakes

[agortega]

1985 a very strong earthquake destroyed Mexico city, I was too little don't remember anything but a few 7 grade earthquakes didn't scare me of all till one got me in a big building that was chasing really bad and turn very noisy, that was pretty scary

[NicolasPerez]

Is it crazy that I WANT to experience an earthquake?

[baspatolivas]

I've survived two earthquakes, 27 Feb, 2010 in Chile it was 8.8 but I was sleeping and didn't feel most of it, only the last 20 seconds, it was intense.

The second one, September 2015, 8.3 in Illapel, I was at Pizza Hut with a friend and my cousin and we just bought a pizza, we were waiting for it outside and suddenly we thought that my cousin was moving the table but it was an earthquake and all the Pizza Hut workers ran away, we didn't move and we waited for 30 minutes, they came back and gave us the pizza, and they still made us pay after making us wait that long.

[ayush_stha]

Experienced the April 25th 7.8R earthquake. I Was on the 4th floor and tried to get down but the stairs were moving like hell.
The Aftershocks are still occurring of about 5R every week. It still scares the hell out of people.

[CrimsonHelldrake]

*men have been betterizing buildings all our lives.  Hats off to the men that build our world!*

[azr]

I live in Indonesia and I've experienced so many earthquakes, including the biggest one in May 2006 which kills about 5, 000 people. The damage that is done by the earthquake depends on the depth of the epicenter too, in which the 2006 earthquake only has 5, 9 richter but the depth is only 10 km or something.

[angelb.]

I was in Chile in Februar 2010, it was 8, 8 Richter. It came also with a Tsunami.

I remember living an earthquake, about 7 Richter scale, I was on a hospital in shape of tower and the building was relatively old, that was quite an experience, but at the end I remember that made me to assure myself on studying engineering, I remember seeing the engineers checking the building after the earthquake that made it all.