Andrew O'Donnell

New Zealand’s most powerful earthquake in at least 200 years struck 165 years ago on January 23, 1855.

This is not an overly scientific explanation of a long-lost "Seinfeld" joke; it’s a question we heard quite frequently when we were meeting with clients in New Zealand.

The notion that 10% of high-rise structures in San Francisco could collapse during a major earthquake has unsurprisingly gotten a great deal of attention. Is it true?

Earlier this year an article in The New York Times speculated about the “high” probability of steel high-rise buildings in San Francisco built before the 1994 Northridge earthquake collapsing in a future quake.

Earlier this year The New York Times published three articles regarding the seismic hazard and safety concerns for tall buildings, particularly those in San Francisco, which stimulated discussion both in the public domain and in the engineering community.

In communities and countries around the world government officials and other decision-makers with limited resources are called upon to make investments in the safety and welfare of their constituents.

During a talk at AIR, Dr. Lucy Jones emphasized the importance of moving toward a truly green and sustainable society and advocated for standards that ensure that buildings are not "disposable" in the case of a significant disaster.

Compared to standard-value homes, high-value homes are larger and more complex structures generally constructed better and with more expensive materials. However, they can be more susceptible to damage during an earthquake than their standard-value counterparts.

Ductility is a materials property that describes the extent to which a material (or structure) can undergo large deformations without failing.