Ecuador earthquake structural musings
Ecuador earthquake structural musings
(OP)
I'm curious if anyone else knows - do areas such as Ecuaador even have a building code?
Much of the destruction looks to be concrete structures (which I'm assuming was due to a reinforcement issue, either lack thereof or improper connections)
Here's a link of some of the damage so far
Much of the destruction looks to be concrete structures (which I'm assuming was due to a reinforcement issue, either lack thereof or improper connections)
Here's a link of some of the damage so far






RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings
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RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings
Link for the Ecuador building code (in spanish):
http://www.normaconstruccion.ec/
RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings
But note that many places in the US don't have a building code. Here in Texas, for example, there is a state-wide building code, but it only applies to commercial buildings. Otherwise, most of the building codes are imposed by city governments, and if you're not in the city limits, there's no code requirement and you can build what you want to.
Another issue is that the modern building codes are all based on the idea that we'll design so that the probability of the loads exceeding X level are reasonably low. But "reasonably low" is not zero, so you can build a brand-new structure to the latest code and have it destroyed the following day because that hurricane was stronger than it was supposed to be or whatever. Get another New Madrid earthquake in full force, and you'll have people in Ecuador asking "do they even have building codes up there?"
RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings