Earthquake Analysis Case Study
ISSUE
At 4:30 in the morning on January 17, 1994, southern California was struck with a Magnitude 6.7 earthquake, immediately named the Northridge Earthquake based on its location, that caused 57 deaths and nearly 9,000 injuries. The number of dead and injured was significantly lower than would have been the case had the earthquake occurred during normal business hours. The earthquake caused an estimated $20 billion in losses. This was the second major earthquake to strike California in a major population area in slightly over four years, the last one being the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989 which struck the San Francisco Bay Area. These deadly and costly natural disasters brought into question the ability of major metropolitan areas to survive a truly major earthquake (magnitude 8 and greater are reasonably probable in California) without unacceptable losses of life and property.
CONSULTANT METHOD
Consultant was retained by the California Seismic Safety Commission to be the Project Director of a multi-discipline team composed of the State’s foremost geotechnical, seismic, and seismic design experts from leading universities and engineering firms to investigate, evaluate, and report on the totality of the event from its causes to its effects.
RESULTS
A multi-discipline team composed of numerous highly qualified professionals, many of whom volunteered their time and effort without recompense, was pulled together from the length and breadth of California. Subject areas investigated included the geologic and seismic aspects of the earthquake and resultant ground motions, effects on lifelines, infrastructure, buildings of all type, zoning, building codes and related issues. The project took over a year to complete and resulted in a Report to the Governor of California, Turning Loss to Gain, SSC Report No. 95-01, that recommends proposed actions to make California less vulnerable to earthquakes.
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