Earthquake

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.

We expect the earth beneath our feet to be solid ground, but there are circumstances in which it can behave more like a thick soup.

Who can forget the dramatic images of the Yun Men Tsui Ti building in Hualian, Taiwan, leaning at an angle of 40° after the M6.4 earthquake that struck north of Hualian on February 6?

Earthquakes strike around the clock and around the globe, hitting some communities far harder than others.

The team arrived in Mexico City a week after the M7.1 earthquake struck the central Mexican state of Puebla.

While Peru's building codes are now quite good, many commercial structures in the region predate them and most residential structures in the country are unlikely to have been built in compliance.

Recovery from a major earthquake, or indeed any extreme event, is always a lengthy process, even for wealthy and developed countries. An earthquake fades from the headlines after a few weeks, but recovery in the impacted region can continue for years.

In August 2016 we blogged about the earthquake that had struck central Italy a few days earlier and the extensive damage done to the traditional unreinforced masonry structures of the region.

At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, San Francisco residents awoke to the shaking of a massive M7.8 earthquake. Structures throughout the city were destroyed, and for at least four days, 50–60 fires burned and devastated the shattered city.

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