Building codes in seismic zones worldwide have required that nonstructural components of buildings be restrained. In most cases, these requirements have been in place for more than forty years. And yet, little has been done to protect structures and their occupants from the thousands of operational and functional components (OFCs), which slide, topple and break, causing injuries and water and fire damage. During strong earthquakes in urban areas, substantial business interruption losses occur resulting in corporate, municipal, regional and national economic consequences.
In 1999, after much public discussion, the province of British Columbia launched a Seismic Mitigation Program. The initial $133 million pilot program was focused on nonstructural components in hospitals, schools and other critical provincial buildings. For a period of four years (the Program was closed in 2003 due to fiscal restraint), this effort resulted in more activity and development in this specialized field than in any other place on earth.
This presentation reports on what was done during the Program and the techniques, which were developed to take seismic risk mitigation of OFCs to a higher level. Seismic risk assessment (using Canadian Standards Association’s S832) and the Terra Firm automated engineering system will be highlighted, while project management, fitting fabrication and installation issues will be touched on during the presentation.
Jay Lewis, MBA is the president of Terra Firm Earthquake Preparedness Inc.. He has been in the construction industry for forty years as a contractor, consultant, program manager, researcher, trainer, broadcaster and author.
Tuesday, May 4th, 2004
3:00 - 4:00 PM EST
Click here to watch the archived webcast.
If you would like to ask questions regarding the topic being presented, you can send an e-mail to mceerwebcast@civil.eng.buffalo.edu during or after the presentation. If time allows, an attempt will be made to convey any questions received during the presentation to the presenter to answer live during discussions. Other questions will be collected and sent to the presenter, whose answers will subsequently be posted on this website.
Seminar sponsored by MCEER Networking and Education Programs, MCEER SLC and hosted by the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and the EERI Student Chapter at UB. For further information please contact Darren Vian of the UB-EERI at (716) 645-2114 (ext.2437).
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