Frank F. Matthews wrote:
> Icono Clast wrote:
>
> > The Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17, 1989 had an intensity of
> > 6.9 resulting in fifty-seven directly-related, and six indirectly
> > related, deaths. There were 3,757 documented injuries and about $7
> > billon in damage.
> >
> > San Francisco has enacted strict building codes that are stringently
> > enforced. An excerpt from the page entitled "Fault? It's San
> > Andreas!" http://geocities.com/iconoc/Articles/SAndreas.html
> >
> > =ABWe all read reports of thousands killed by not-so-great 'Quakes in
> > other countries. Many of them have building codes just as strict as
> > ours; what the they don't have is our stringent enforcement. We pay
> > with money. They pay with their lives.=BB
> >
>
>
> Building codes are tricky things. I was recently watching a program
> about a civil engineering experiment (UCSD I think) which claimed that
> overly strict codes on reinforcement resulted in more dangerous
> buildings because of rigidity.
I am by no means an expert, but building codes for earthquake-prone
areas do not prescribe rigidity. I have friends who worked in a tall
building during Loma Prieta and they said their building swung 8 ft in
both directions during the quake.
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