Lessons Learned from the Recent Earthquakes in Iran

Author(s):  
Mohammad Ashtari Jafari
1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Jennings

Twenty-five years have passed since the San Fernando earthquake of February 9, 1971. The paper reviews the lessons learned and not learned from this notable event. Most of the major lessons were reported within a few weeks of the earthquake by a panel appointed by the National Academies of Sciences and of Engineering. In this paper, the status of each of the eighteen general lessons cited by the panel is reviewed, plus two additional lessons selected from other studies of the earthquake. The lessons learned ranged broadly and concerned measures needed to reduce future earthquake hazards, as well as recommended scientific and engineering efforts. Although all of the lessons learned were not heeded, the San Fernando earthquake represented a turning point in public awareness and in actions taken to reduce earthquake hazard. Recent earthquakes have shown, however, that much remains to be done.


Author(s):  
José Delgado ◽  
Martín J. Rodríguez-Peces ◽  
Francisco J. García-Tortosa ◽  
Jesús Garrido ◽  
Iván Martín ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude de Ville de Goyet

AbstractThe evaluations following the Tsunami that affected 12 countries (December 2004) and the earthquakes in Bam, Iran (2003), and in Pakistan (2005) offered valuable lessons for public health preparedness against all types of risks (natural, complex, or technological) in all countries (regardless their level of development).The lessons learned, needs assessments, effectiveness of external life-saving assistance, disease surveillance and control, as well as donations management, were reviewed.Although hundreds of surveys or studies were conducted, the needs assessments were partial and uncoordinated. The findings often were not shared by individual agencies.The evaluations in each of the three disasters point to some additional issues:1. Foreign mobile hospitals rarely arrived in time for immediate trauma care. Existing international guidelines for the use of field hospitals often were ignored and must be updated and promoted. Local and neighboring facilities are best at providing immediate, life-saving care;2. Occassionally, the risk of epidemics was grossly overestimated by the agencies and the mass media. Surveillance and improved routine control programs work without resorting to costly, improvised immunization campaigns of doubtless value. Improving or re-establishing water and sanitation must be the first priority;3. Health donations were not always appropriate, nor did they follow the World Health Organization guidelines. The costly destruction of inappropriate donations was a recurrent problem; and4. Medical volunteers from within the affected country were abounding, but did not benefit from the external logistical and material support. The international community should provide logistical and material support before sending expatriate teams that are unfamiliar with the area and its health problems.Investing in the preparedness of the national health services and communities should become a priority for disaster-prone countries and those assisting them in their development.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amjad Naseer ◽  
Akhtar Naeem Khan ◽  
Zakir Hussain ◽  
Qaisar Ali

Recent earthquakes in Pakistan demonstrated that the region is highly seismic. Masonry buildings constructed with stones, concrete blocks, and fired-clay bricks and concrete buildings were damaged during the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake. This paper presents the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete and masonry buildings in northern part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Kashmir during the earthquake. Most of the buildings were observed to be nonengineered or semi-engineered. The paper presents an overview of the 1937 Quetta building code and the 1986 and 2007 building codes of Pakistan. Lessons learned during the earthquake are also presented.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romeu Silva Vicente ◽  
Hugo Rodrigues ◽  
Humberto Varum ◽  
Aníbal Costa ◽  
José António Raimundo Mendes da Silva

Author(s):  
K. J. McManus

The US-Japan Workshop on Geotechnical Aspects of Recent Earthquakes was held at the Kansai Kenshu Centre, Osaka, Japan on 22-24 January 1996. The objectives of the workshop were to summarise lessons learned from the Lorna Prieta, Northridge, and Kobe earthquakes, to identify ongoing research needs, to summarise available data, and to identify areas of possible co-operation for future research. The society was invited to send a representative from New Zealand with observer status provided that person present a report summarising current and ongoing research on geotechnical earthquake engineering within New Zealand. The author was selected to be the New Zealand observer and the summary report accompanies this article. Thirty two participants attended from the US and thirty from Japan including most of the well known, active researchers from the two countries. A complete list of participants is given in Appendix A. The draft workshop report, with contributions from many of the participants, is summarised below. A full copy of the report is held by the author.


2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Hose ◽  
Pedro Silva ◽  
Frieder Seible

Through lessons learned in recent earthquakes, the need for new seismic bridge design methodologies that consider structural performance explicitly and address the inelastic response of bridge structures more directly is recognized. Efforts are in progress to define and quantify limit states and associated performance goals to develop a multi-level bridge design methodology. A multi-level design approach can only be implemented, however, when structural behavior or limit states can accurately be characterized and assessed for the wide range of probable input or demands. The outlined capacity assessment database addresses the response determination and parameterization of bridge components, sub-assemblages, and systems in direct support of the development of multi-level performance design and evaluation procedures for bridges. Through the use of a standardized template, a performance library for bridge structures, which is open for access and expansion to the entire practicing bridge engineering community, has been initiated.


1986 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 825-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitelmo V. Bertero

Following an overview of the special problems inherent in the design and construction of earthquake-resistant buildings in regions of high seismic risk, the techniques that will be required to solve these problems in the U.S. are discussed. Some lessons learned from recent earthquakes, particularly those in Chile and Mexico in 1985, are discussed as are some results of integrated analytical and experimental research at the University of California, Berkeley. The implications of the ground motions recorded during the 1985 Mexican and Chilean earthquakes, the performance of buildings during the Mexican earthquake, and the research results previously discussed are then assessed with respect to seismic-resistant design regulations presently in force (UBC) as well as those formulated by ATC 3-06 and the Tentative Lateral Force Requirements recently developed by the Seismology Committee of SEAOC. The rationale for and reliability of the values suggested by the ATC for the “Response Modification Factor R” and by the SEAOC Seismology Committee for the “Structural Quality Factor Rw” are reviewed in detail. In the conclusion to the paper, two solutions for improving the earthquake-resistant design of building structures are proposed: an ideal (rational) method to be implemented in the future, and a compromise solution that can be implemented immediately.


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